Round 2

I don't see this series going as along of the Filthy series. While Caps have world class talent in all phases of the game. Between the pipes is where the playoffs are won or lost, just ask any Queen Henrik. Rangers were up 3-1 then the Caps took over, The Queen  was pulled two straight games because he had suck so bad. he doesn't get all the blame tho.

 Caps rookie G-man Simeon Varlamov, who just turned 21 a few days back has been thrown into the fire because of  incompetent goal tending by one Jose Theodore. While Varlamov played very well in the series against the Rangers he will be facing a completely different kind of team in our Pens.

See the Rangers O is horrid.  They don't have any world talent plain and simple. While Varlamov future looks bright he hasn't been baptisted yet. Well get ready Simeon cause here it comes. 

The Caps have a very young team with a very young goal tender, they will become better just not this year.

Pens will return to the Eastern finals.

Craps buying up tickets...

Apparently the Craps high-ups are buying up tickets so that pittsburgh fans can't get them... In my opinion this is about as low as it gets. I understand wanting to have an atmosphere, but this is a sport made for enjoyment, to intentionally get in the way of fans trying to see their team play is completely disgraceful... If there is truth to this the league needs to step in cause this is low class... Man i really hate the capitals, i hope we beat their asses in 4...

Janne Skates...

At practice today Janne skated for the first time since his upper body injury... Not sure how long till he is ready for a game, but hopefully the baby pens keep themselves in it long enough for him to make a comeback....

Bring on the Crapitals...

If the rangers had competent goal scorers other than Antripov that game last night would have been a massacre... If the craps try to play pittsburgh like that we will destroy them. That being said, the craps are a good team, and they always bring their A game when they play the pens... Honestly, after seeing how the rangers forecheck absolutly dismantled the craps and the knowledge that their tender has yet to be tested, this series should be a slam dunk.... But again, this is playoff hockey and anything can happen... My pick is Pens vs. Canes in the ECF...

Anybody else watching this...

The Caps Rangers game is excellent, the Devils Canes game looks like it's even better...

Dan Bylsma is no longer the Interim Head Coach...

He signed a multi-year deal as the real head coach... Hopefully this turns out better than the last time we called up a coach from WBS

Don't worry you still got il presidente....

The San Jose Sharks are quickly becoming the Colts of the NHL... Another amazing season only to be followed with a disappointing post-season. To their credit the Ducks were not exactly #8 seed (a la the Canadians), and they came into that series on quite the roll... So I guess the Sharks can go into the Off Season with a shitty draft pick and nothing to show for it...

On the other side of the west, the block buster trade of this years trade deadline did not have the desired effect as it did last year for the Pens. The flames goalie played worse than Marty Biron on an off day most of this series and Jokinen and Iginla were basically invisible...

Of these two teams I would bet on the Ducks being more of a cup competitor... The Hawks are good, but their advancements is more an effect of the Flames incompetence than their own skill... Feel free to prove me wrong...

Tonight in the east we have two big games... I am picking the Blue Shirts and the Devils to advance tonight... The Rangers are gonna be fired up because that piece of shit Brasheer took out their best penalty killer and their play will show it... Also I would not be surprised to see Avery take a few runs at Lady Alex, it'll be about time somebody does... The Devils, IDK i have faith in Marty.... If he can get back to lights out Hockey the Canes are smoke...

Nothing we can do but wait and watch, we will know what the future holds for us tomorrow...

How it should sound...

Here are the highlights from the Penguins booking some golf lessons for the flyers with Mike Lange announcing... Caution: Watching this may make you depressed at how bad hockey announcers on tv are...

Green and Brasheer suspended...

Brasheer has been suspended, rightfully so... In my opinion he should get multiple games... This is what is wrong with hockey, Avery gets suspended for how many games for making a stupid comment, Brasheer goes out and intentionally tries to (and does) hurt somebody and he gets one game... That was a low class move by a low class player on a low class team....

Kevin's Correction: Brashear was suspended for 6 games...

Green has also been suspended, not sure what for, but I will keep you posted as I hear details... This is a huge blow for the capitals, Green has been one of the biggest point producers in the regular season, and even more so in the playoffs... Go Blue Shirts...

Vince's Edit: ESPN reported this morning that Green was suspended, but I have heard nothing since, considering nobody knows if he did anything i'm betting this is misinformation

Brasheer should be suspended

Wow that hit was filthy... It reminds me of an uppercut from Mortal Combat or something... It's amazing he only does 2 min for that, I have heard from several people that the refs are calling in favor of the crapitals, but I haven't really watched so i can't really confirm or deny that... Overall it doesn't matter, Capitals forced a game 7, who knows if they are gonna win, if King Henrik can get his swagger back they can totally shut out that team... Who knows, we will have to wait to find out, I will be cheering for the rangers because i'd rather play them than the capitals...

The Unsung Hero...

Yesterday when we wrote that post thanking Biron for his efforts, or lack there of, in helping the Penguins win yesterday, we left a very important person out of the equation... Dan Carcillo, ex penguino, should be the post boy for the flyers... What player in their right mind, being up 3-0 in a must win playoff game, would get involved in a fight... Carcillo crushed Talbot, but that wasn't the point... It obviously stirred up the Penguins, and gave them the momentum that lead to their comeback and eventual victory... Dumbass flyer fans were cheering during the fight oblivious to the motivations behind it and what would ensue... Anyways, i'm confident that any of our players in that same situation would have the knowledge and the ability to turn the other cheek and maintain momentum... Anyways, Danny Carcillo, sorry for leaving you out... But thanks for being a dumbass Flyer and allowing Mad Max to pick a momentum changing fight with you... If it makes you feel any better we here at PATP agree that you crushed Max, so I hope that provides you some solace when you hit the links next weekend...

In my quest for an image of talbot "shushing" the Cryer crowd i was watching the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast of the fight on youtube and the announcers said at one point..."Well that fight backfired on Talbot..." I found this on a youtube, but i'd love a better copy..

If anybody has a good copy of that picture i would love it...

Thanks Marty...

Here at Pesonen and the Pens we would like to extend a very special Thank You to Martin Biron for showing his true colors as a choke artist and serving that game up to us on a silver platter...



Anyways, some thoughts about the game and the series...

• We need to keep this up, especially if we go up against the Crapitals
• For all the flapping that the Cryers do about being a physical team they are a bunch of bitches... With the last 5 min left they were flopping like an italian soccer team... They get hit to the ground they come up complaining... Danny Briere is horribly overrated and is more of a bitch than the Lip and has half the skill...
• Scotty Hartnell could be so much better if he had dicipline, but he's a Cryer, and they historically have no dicipline
• This is most likely the last time that Martin Biron plays in a Cryers uniform... The second we put that first puck in the net, all that momentum he had he lost completly, and he could never get back up... The Flower lets up 3 goals and regains composure and lets in no more goals, Biron lets up one and loses it all and lets up 3 more...
• Our 3rd line is sick, if they start putting the puck in the net we are gonna roll
• Satan looked great, especially considering that he has been playing in the AHL for a while... he didn't make mistakes, he put the puck on net, he went into corners... Right now, i'd keep him in over sykora...
• Hal Gill was one shot away from being the most hated man in pittsburgh...

Any other thoughts?

I forgot.... 1975....

Holy Shit...

Wow this game went from horrible to amazing... We have them against the ropes here, they are gonna take some penalties and we gotta take advantage... 6-3 Penguins is my prediction at 5:01 PM

Calling out

I seem to have this nack of criticizing players only to have them take their performance to the next level the following game.  Marc-Andre and Ugly  know what I'm talking about.

ok, here it is, WTF is wrong with our top two line wingers...1, I say 1 even strength goal so far in 5 games. Outside of Pigman, who I see him as our best player so far in the series, is our 3rd line winger, only one other winger has an even strength goal. Hell, big Goof is the only other winger to even score.

where have Kunitz, Shittank, Cookie, Petersmurf and most recent but I will cut him a break for lack of action Satan gone?

you read into the numbers 4/30 13.3% on PP, you think some of this could be the problem?

Maybe Mad Max on a wing flanking The Lip or Ugly couldn't hurt.. 

Lets Go Pens!!! 

Pens advance, play Hershey Bears next

SoundTigers 2 Pens 4

WBS Pens advance to the second round with a with a 4-2 win tonight over Brideport.

Pens goals...Minard(5),Jeffery(4),Daoust(3) and Taffe(3).

Minard scored a goal in each of the 5 games.

First home win for either team in the series.

Looks like Hershey is in their future..

Next Saturday starts the next round..

Games 1 and 2 in Hershey

Games 3,4 and 5 home for the Pens

Games 6 and 7 in Hershey....

Can Janne make it back for this round?



Pens win 4-1.

Thats was Ugly, I'm not talking about Malkin

Flat out after 20 mins, the Cryers took it to us. Nothing to positive came out of this game. Hopefully they regroup and Disco Dan's magic can find its way back.

Has anybody seen our wingers?

I'm done for now..

we'll be ok.

I don't want to talk about it...

That was horrible they beat us like it was the 80s...

The greatest Illusion of them all...

Little do the fans of Pittsburgh know, but last year hours after the trade deadline, David Copperfield performed his greatest illusion ever... Topping the disappearing Statue of Liberty by 10fold...

Yes that is right, he created the illusion that Pascal Dupuis is a top 6 winger... Well it looks like DCop is back at it again, Frenchdy LeBeard will be rockin the 2nd line, over skating and missing empty nets...

Anyways in other news... Get ready to start the chant...

1975

1975

1975

1975

Letang doubtful

I'm hearing Kris "silky" Letang is doubtful right now, I'm sure if it can be taped and he feels good he won't miss this game.. give us a holler if you hear anything different..

How does it feel?

Do be scratched for Shitan? Call up Sykora and ask him...

WBS is one game away

Wbs defeated the SoundTigers 2-1 to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

Goals by Minard(4) and Taffe(2) and John Curry stopped 31 shots.

all the winning is being done by the road teams..

Minard has goals in all 4 games.

Friday could be it....another series win by a Pens team..

Elimination: the act of

I was just sitting here watching the Rangers and Craps when I started to think about tomorrows ELIMINATION game for the Cryers. 

Elimination defines the Cryers to a T...

• the act of removing or getting rid of something...( when we rid of the Cryers tomorrow as a Pens fan only one thing can be better and that is a CUP...
  
• the bodily process of discharging waste matter...( one player comes to mind immediately:SCOTT HARTNELL)
  
• the murder of a competitor (read what you want into this one)
  
  Sorry Cryers, you will be eliminated....

Don't cry Philly, maybe in another time....

last year the Pens just came out and kicked the Cryers asses. This year the Cryers have been the better team from just beyond the goal line out. At the goal line the Cryers  must have forgot in the playoffs its goaltender dominance that will carry a team from series to series.

The Pens were clearly the better team in game one. Games 2,3 and 4  were decided by one player. Has Marc -Andre Fleury come of age? MAF should have been the #1 star in game 2, I can see why they gave it to Big Goof,  game 3 was just a total flop for everyone in visitors uni, Fleury looked rattled. Game #4 was a masterpiece from the Flower. Pens as a whole were out played badly, except for Marc, he will have won this series single handed. His performance last night in my eyes #1A in his playoff career, #1 was game 5 vs Detroit last year, he was unconscious in the Ot's.

Marc is going to need help, come on Pens, get on  board the Flower train.

Could we be watching the maturation of the next superstar goaltender? 

Get ready for some Deja Vu on Wednesday Philly Fans...

Suck it...

Now that's what i'm talking about...

Thanks to fellow reader Tom Jones (may or may not be the singer...) for hooking us up with another Janniac, Jeff Jackson's awesome jersey... Tom also informed us that Jeff insisted that although Guerin netted the OT winner on friday, Janne would have won it in regulation... Now only to we at PATP agree with that statement, but we claim that if Janne was with the big pens, they would have already started etching their names onto Lord Stanley...

Bench Sykora....

Above is a picture of what we should be hoping Petr Sykora is wearing during the game on Tuesday... Honestly, he has been a waste on the ice, at this point I would rather suit up Satan and see if he can do anything... Malkin's line is complete garbage and yet he is carrying them on his back... I don't care what you do but having a line that is that weak in the playoffs is just not going to work in the long run... Danny B needs to either mix things up or light a fire under some players... This may work against the Cryers, but the teams are just gonna be getting better from here on out...

Pens blow huge lead...lose in OT

Bridgeport 5 WBS 4 OT

Tough day for the other Pens too. WBS scored 4 goals in the second period to have a lead of 4-1, then it started to cave in.. With a late PP goal Bridgeport pulled within 4-2..then midway through the 3rd Brideport scored 2 goals less than 5 mins a part to send it to OT 4-4.  Around the 10 min mark Bridgeport wins it 5-4.

Pens had 3 PP's in the second...

J-M Daoust(1,2 and 2 assists) had a 4 point second period breaking the old record set by Goose, who had 3 points in one period.

road team has won all 3 games..

No word on Janne's status....

Pens lead 2-1

Something to take the edge off.

I know this is a hockey only blog, but you have to see this, these girls rock!!!

Stars respond....

Cryers pounded our Pens 6-3. The stars showed up for the boneheads. They scored even,shorthanded and PP. The Pens were 1/7 of PP

Marc- Andre Sieve wasn't very good today, can't think of one crucial save he made.

weak efforts on the shorty they gave up, Big Goof and Silk were clueless.

Ugly was outstanding today, were as The Lip not so good...

We need a lot more out of Shittank and Petersmurf.

Orpik was extremely quiet today with 0 hits

how bad was Captain Close's line. very!!! 4th line wasn't very good either..

Now we get to see how the Pens are going to answer this ass kicking.. 

Pens lead 2-1

guess who is Crying?

and it isn't the Pens, its...... get ready for this...... Cryers D man Kimmo Pooponen. We will call him Poophead for short. Poop is whining more then our own Sid "the Lip".  As Poopy has it, The Lip is being treated differently than the Cryers, when they question the refs the big bad wolves yell at the poor Cryers.

As I see it, the Cryers are just out classed by our speed and forchecking, Marc-Andre has been nothing short of the MVP of the series, just ask Jeff Cryer Carter. 

Pyscho(Orpik) has more hits than the Beatles. He was credited with 14 hits alone in game 2.

The Cryers D men as soft, they can't handle our forchecking, our 3rd and 4th lines have been fantastic. 

Cookie Monster, Stone Hands and Pigman have more heart than the Cryers whole team.

Hell, wait till Ugly wakes up and really starts to play. Even tho he has 2 goals, they are results of bad bounces, and great breaks. other than that he has been pretty much invisible.

What an you say about the play of Mark Eaton, me personally, I feel Eaton has been our best D man since the new year.

I hear the whining and crying as frustration because the Cryers have no answer right now on how to deal with the Pens speed, physical play and Marc-Andre....

Today is going to be the Cryers day of reckoning. They either win or start cleaning the clubs. I see the latter..

Pens win in OT.. Lead 2-0

WBS 5 SoundTigers 4

down 4-2 going into the third period, the AHL's best 3rd period team(103 3rd period goals) got goals by defensemen Andy Wozniewski(1) and Ben Lovejoy(1). This game was in overtime when Chris Minard(2) scored at the 4:54 mark for the Pens win and 2-0 lead in the series.

Dustin Jeffery(2,3) scored the first 2 goals..

John Curry was outstanding facing 37 shots..

Pens play tomorrow back home....

Janne will be day to day...

Undisclosed...

look like Janne has the dreaded undisclosed injury, he will be evaluated today.

UPDATE: Janne is ruled out with a upper body injury, Connor James is out also with a lower body injury...

Stupidity, Bounces part duo..

 In a hard fought game tonight in which there was a little of everything, great goaltender by Marc-Andre kept the Pens in the game. The Cryers have played a much better game, with goals by Little Orphan  Annie and  Powe for Killadelphia, The Pens goal was scored by Big Goof on  a sweet shot. Late in the 3rd Carter takes an penalty. then that is when it struck, the bounce part duo, a shot by Silk hits Cryers D-man Braydon Colburn, the puck then bounces(there is that word again)straight across and bounces off of Ugly's leg for a late period PP goal and a 2-2 tie.

Overtime we go,

pretty even Ot, the stupidity set in once again for the Cryers. On a PP late in the OT in the offensive zone the Cryers take cross checking penalty then a slash,  Cryers drop to a 5-3 and Big Goof buries it and that was game..

Pens lead 2-0

WBS 3 SoundTigers2

Wbs jumped to a 3-0 on goals by Minard,Jeffery and Caputi, then held on an defeat the Soundtigers 3-2. JohnCurry was in goal for the win.

Janne assisted on Dustin Jeffery goal for his first playoff point. Janne didn't play the 3rd period and no word on his status.

Wbs leads 1-0

Stupid Bounce..

Yea, the Cryers played "STUPID" last night. Hartnell is a bonehead. They didn't get any bounces except for the  bounces thrown out by Psycho(Orpik) and CK.

3 of our 4 goals were a result of bounces. bad bounces that went along with the bouncing the Pens did on the Cryer's face.

 pre playoffs, The Philly Faggots talked about not taken stupid penalties. HA...HA...The operative here concerning the Cryers  is "STUPID". I thought the game was closer than the 4-1 score. Just how can you play any team let alone the Pens with their top line fire power and give them 9 PP. Sure we only scored on 1PP even tho the time spent in offensive zone was substantial. Killing off 9 attempts wears your energy down, espically when one of your top Pk's is the culprit of such "STUPIDITY". I love it, it was exactly what I expected of the Goofs.

Pens lead 1-0

  

SM-Liiga Superstar Recalled for NHL playoffs...

Don't get too excited... Today detroit called up former SM-Liiga superstar Ville Leino to add some depth before the playoffs... I doubt we will see anything like this for Janne...

Suprised I never seen this video before...

Found this when poking around youtube, surprised i've never seen it before, it's pretty sweet, good way to get pumped for the big game tomorrow...

Best Season ever...

From John Bomboulie at the Penguins insider

Janne Pesonen just finished the best single season in Penguins history. His 32 goals are the second-most in team history. His 82 points are a team record. He finished fourth in the AHL scoring race, behind Hershey's Alexandre Giroux and Keith Aucoin and Manitoba's Jason Krog -- heady company by AHL standards....Pesonen also turned in the most points by a Finn in a season in AHL history. The league office did some digging and found that distinction used to belong to Rochester's Kai Suikkanen and his 77 points in 1982-83.

I understand that it has yet to be seen if a similar level of production can be reproduced in the NHL, but with the Penguins having a significant portion of their cap space tied up between 4 players we need these type of role players on the low... It is possible that Janne may give the Pens organization the same FU that they gave him when they were calling up his lesser producing teammates, but Shero would be high to let this opportunity pass us by...

Anyways, other than this the Playoffs are starting up and to be honest I like the pens chances... The biggest thing that will make or break us is if the flower can go lights out like he did last year...

My predictions for the first round in the east...

Pittsburgh over Cryers in 6
Carolina over NJ in 5
Boston over Montreal in 4
Washington over Rangers in 6

Kevin's Picks in for first round.

I'm not going to pick the game totals, that is  just dumb luck there.

Pittsburgh(Teams are to even, revenge could be a huge factor with a healthy Cryers too this year. The deciding factor will be Biron, he likes to self destruct)

Carolina( To hot the last month, Erik Cole and Cam Ward is the best goalie in hockey)

Boston(just way to deep for a Montreal team with no face)

Rangers(two word and isn't not Lady Alex, Jose Theodore)

Ducks( 2 years removed and a lot of experience)

Canucks(this could be a shocker, I just don't think the Blues are ready yet)

B'Hawks(Hawks could be the surprise of the West if Khabibulin shows up.)

Wings( I can believe this the Wings would go out in the first, reigning Champs will be tested for sure, wings goal tending better be up to the challenge)

Janne hunts Bear...

title sound kinda corny doesn't it?, I know...Janne  single handedly beat the bears with a 2 goal(31,32) and 1 assist 3rd period as the Pens won the final game of the regular season in Hershey 5-4.

Hey Vince Look....

The Wbs star/leading scorer of the year ended the year with 82 points. Sounds to me like Pessi was getting tuned up for his first crack at the AHL Playoffs and Pesonennation will be there.

So the 3rd place Pens face the 2nd place Bridgeport Soundtigers Friday night in round 1 of the AHL playoffs.

Lets go Pens!!!

Lets go Janne!!!

Just did some looking at the playoff schedule in the AHL. This only makes in a warped way. The only explaination must be arena booking and looks like one teams has nowhere to play... to freakin funny..

Pens and SoundTigers play..

2 in Uniondale,NY then game 3 is in Scranton, game 4 in an away game. So the in the first 4 games 3 are away games. Then they are the only series that plays a possible Fri(game 5),Sat(game 6) and Sunday(game 7). This makes no sense to me, plus..plus The Philly Phantoms don't have anywhere to play right now. Ahhhhh so be it, life in the minors.

Thanks to the Rangers..

the Cryers have lost a chance at home ice in the first round. I have always seen home ice being the most important in the first round, opening round tends to have scares and  surprises. Once teams start to advance I look at it as if you  are going to win a champioship you must be able to win on the road. ala Detroit last year, the Pens stole their Stanley Cup clinching game in Detroit only to lose game six and the cup at the Igloo.

I see this series as a slight edge for the Pens, as long as Biron is in the net for the Cryers we wait for self destruction.

PP..

Cryers are ranked 6th at 22.4%

Pens  are 20th at 17.2%

PK..

Cryers ranked 6th at 83. with  16,000 shorthanded goals...

Pens ranked  at 82.7 and have been on fire as of late, just ask Carey Price.

I feel we are going to get our fair share of PPs and we need to cash in on them...

My god this is a dream come true for me, let us keep it from becoming a nightmare!!

The only team I hate as much as the Cryers are the Eagles..hmmmm, may as well add the Phillies to that list..

Lets Go Pens!!!

 

If Gaborik wasn't such a pussy...

I've watched enough hockey in the last 2 nights to last me the rest of the summer. I did notice a difference in the Minnesota Wild with Marion Gaborik in the line-up. Not only can they play defense, they end the season scoring 14 goals in their last 2 games.

When it comes to scoring goals Lady Alex is in a league of his own, or is he? The Lady has 121 goals in the last 2 seasons, MG had 13 in 17 games this season. In the 2006/2007 MG had 30 in 48 games, do you see the pattern? Gaborik has yet to play a full season.

Just an observation.... Does Gaborik  have the heart or desire that posseses LA, He certainky has the talent... if he ever finds it, look out... 

Both Pens in action/Frozen 4 Champioship......

In a period that was dominated by the big club,  we looked to the NHL scoring Champ for 2009, Butt Ugly Malkin(35) to give the Pens an early lead only to see Montreal tie it up with a few minutes left in the first 1-1.( still 1-1 end of 2)Pens win 3-1

2 shortys on an Orpik cross check. First was a beauty with Stone Hands on a  set-up of Mad Max(12) and then Silk (10) with a blast. 3-1 Pens 

Baby Pens are following suit, dominating early and jumping to a 2-0 lead only to see Norfolk score two in about 5 mins, Norfolk leads  4- 2 after 40 mins..

Norfolk wins 4-3. WBS will finish 3rd.

What a game!!!!

Boston tied the game with 2 goals in the final minute. 

 #4 Miami (OH) 3 - #1 Boston U 4 OT

A tough goal decides the College Championship...

Penguins Prospect: Brain Strait(jr/D) plays for Boston U.

BDZ, This could be huge...

I'm hearing Big Daddy Zigomanis has been skating and could be ready for the playoffs.

I don't read many blogs, on that note if this is true I have missed this news...Anway this could be a nice surprise and huge addition to our playoff run.

Drop us a line on this one if you have the info...

Riverrats vs Pens

Riverrats 2 Pens 4

Pens win their 48th game of the year....There is still hope for a division title...

Scoring for the Pens:

Biznasty(8)

James(19)

Letestu(24)

Vitale(1)

Assists:

Daoust(2)

Vitale

Wallace

Lovejoy

Janne(49th assist/79th point)

Johnson

Between the Pipes:

Curry(33rd win)

2010 Winter Classic

was awarded to Boston Bruins to be played at Fenway Park on New Years Day. The Nhl has not named an opponent  yet, Come on here, the only two teams it can be is either Montreal or the New York Rangers, the selection of anyone but those two would be an injustice to the hockey gods....

My choice would be Montreal, but demographics say the Rangers and Bruins...

Who do you think should play Boston,  then tell us why.

Last Night/Today

wasn't much of a game last night, the Islander had packed it in months ago. 

Good to see Ugly with a few assist/pts, that should lock-up the scoring title. 

Garon was in net giving MAF the night off...well deserved.

Nice to see Cookie and Pigman still playing wth their usual drive. That could be huge come playoff time.

The yearly awards went to:

MVP: Ugly

Defensive player: Captian Close

Players Player: Eric Godard

all other awards are meaningless....sooooo..Satan has rejoined the Pens today, his whooping 3 goals in 10 games(2/PP) down in Wilkes-Barre makes his joining the Pens for the playoffs a no brainer....I know, I know before you all have a hissy fit its his experience that will well serve us.

So the season ends in Montreal tomorrow night. Lets get this over and let the chips fall where they may. Here are our 3 potential foes...Carolina,Jersey or  my choice the Killyourmother Cryers..

Baby Pens still have an outside chance at still winning their division. They host the Albany Riverrats tonight..

I don't know why we decide to cover the Belleville Bulls playoff trek, I guess because of the hype that Tangradi has stirred up here in the Burgh, so here it is, last night the Bulls eliminated Niagara 4-games to 1 with a 5-2 victory. Tangradi had 2 assists in the win..

Tangradi now leads the OHL in playoff scoring w/20 points in 11 games

Hey everybody....

First of all... Kevin dropped the ball on this...



Now that we got that out of the way... It seemed like a fairly good week to miss penguin hockey, seeing that we didn't dominate like we have been... I am fully confident that we will get back into that shape by the time round 1 starts up...

Anyways, as my stay in bean town is coming to a close, I just felt like i should share some observations with everybody... Now i personally consider boston a sports town, every one of their teams is one of the best in their respected leagues, and they seem to have a big following... Anyways, I base all my comparisons of a sports town on pittsburgh, where you can't walk a city block without seeing a steelers, penguins or pirates logo (yes we still support them for some reason).... When i got to boston, I fully expected the same, red socks, patriots, bruins, and celtics shit everywhere... Wow, I have to tell you, other than a few random Red Socks cap, this city does not visibly show their support to their teams unless it is gameday... I think as pittsburgh fans, most particularly Steelers fans we live in a world that nobody else in the country does... We live and die for our teams, and we show them the support they deserve...

I know if you ask any Boston asshole what is a better sports town they would insist boston and give some bull shit reason while they pop their collar, but from what I have seen first hand, Pittsburgh is where it is at... We are not fairwhether or season only fans...

Anyways, next i'm headed up to canada, maybe i'll do some scouting for the penguins while i'm up there...

Admirals at WBS

 BREAKING NEWS: Janne Pesonen has set a new points record for AHL Finnish players with an assist for his 78 point.

 Admirals 4 Pens 3 OT

Janne(30) with the Powerplay Goal in 3rd ties the recod for most points by a Finnish player in the AHL with 77..

3-2 Admirals midway in the 3rd...

Taffe(25)with 7 mins left to tie the game at 3-3

Goose has 3 assists

Janne with a goal/assist

Jeff Taffe with a goal/assist

Pens playoff foes

We a little more jockeying to go, it is looking like we might be opening the playoffs in Jersey. The Devils have fallen to 3rd and need to win their last two and the Crapitols need to lose their last two for Jersey to move up to second. They could fall to 4th if they lose two and the Cryers win the last three.

We could go as high as 4th and low as 7th.

Tangradi scores 4...

Last night Pens prospect Eric Tangradi scored 4 goals and 1 assist in a 5-2 victory for Belleville Bulls over Niagra Icedogs. The Bulls now lead the series 3-1. Next game is tomorrow at 7:15pm at Belleville.

Tangardi is currently tied for the playoff scoring lead...

Collapse avoided..We are In!!

well the opening period is over and the score is 0-0. 

Pens look a bit off their game. Give Tampa some credit they put together a pretty good effort in the opening 20...

Both goalies had shot go off the posts.

7 periods and counting..nothing generated by the Lip or Ugly...

see what the second brings us...

the second period us four 5 on 3's/ 2 by both teams..

Shittank(16) and the Lip's(31,32) 2 pp goals have the Pens up 3-0.

The Lightning haven't done anything with their opportunities. maybe that is why they are the worse team in the NHL.

Much much better effort by the Pens that period.

If I''m a betting man I see this game as a shutout for MAF. Why you ask?  You'll see!

Get Ready for the third and playoff clinching period..

Wow, this got ugly and i don't mean "Malkin ugly"...

Cookie Monster(12) puts us up 4-0 and we are gliding along to an easy win, guess the Lightning had different ideals...the lightning put in 3 goals in a little 5 mins. 

No shutout now..this is why I'm not a betting man...

Then came the stumble at the blue line and Shittank was off to the races..Ramo save!!!...Goal! by Petersmurf(25)...whew..5-3 and a little breathing room...

late goal by lightning makes it 5-4. This is starting to scare me.

 

MT netter makes it 6-4.

the difference in this game...Tampa Bay doesn't have their  shooters that the Pens have.

Its all good when you win....

let us get ready for tomorrow night when Janne goes for the AHL most point by a Finnish player...he is 1 behind...

 

Pens Universe

One of Pesonenation finest Damian has started new Pens blog of his own. Pens Universe  , check it out...Damian is also looking for a few writers/bloggers, so if your interested give him a holler. We will be adding Pens Universe to our blogroll soon. 

k, We'll Wait...

After a dominate first period in which the Pens peppered F..L..A goalie Vokoun with 19 shots. The pens looked better than I was hoping for. A  Hal Gill miss play lead to FLA 1-0 lead. Hands of Stone made a nice play to tie the game for the Pens. Look like they were ready to roll, the Panthers looked lack luster so far in such an important game for them.  Then it happened, they play that changed this game dramatically. F..L..A D-man Keith Ballard send Ugly to moon with a hip check.

Ugly was just a little stunned, but his counterpart Sid"The LIP" Crosby comes to stick-up for his fallen Rusky buddy. Result...a powerplay goal for F..L..A with 20 secs left in the period...That was all she wrote.

F..L..A dominated the Pens until midway through the 3rd when the Pens Silk takes a stick to the face..wala..4 min PP...2 mins go by nothing..zilch..natta...Then PP specialist M.Eaton unleshes a shot from the point..GOAL!!!..Dam..do we have a game or not?....Yes, for about little more than a minute

THEN................................................................

F..L..A's Ville Peltonen(sounds like Pesonen) swoons from the corner with like 100 Pens players 

looking around to see if Ugly has landed landed yet for his flight. GOAL!!GAME!!  and another loss.

Oh well... a win and we are in..no panic here.. it will come...perhaps as soon as Tuesday at Tampa.

hopefully maybe the Stars( 4 goals scored by: Captain Close,Pigman,Stone Hands and Specialist) will show up...the grinders tried for 2 games now to get us in...

 

Big Rally falls short

Bears 3 Pens 2

in what was going to be a flex of muscle by both the Hershey Bears and the Baby Pens, that muscle was flexed in a shootout by the Bears 3-2. The Pens put on a furious 3rd period rally with 2 goals in the last 5 mins and the tieing goal coming with 3 seconds left in the game.

The game ended without a shot, when Jeff Taffe lost control of his shootout try.

Janne had 2 assists, plus a shootout goal, his 9th in 11 tries.

Biznasty(7) and Letestu(23) scored both of the 3rd period goals.

the Pens were looking for a big win tonight to give them a shot at first place.

Pens outshot Hershey 42-20...

Baby Pens still have a game in hand on the Bears so maybe this isn't over yet.

Arggg!!!

The battling Pens didn't deserve this fate, losing in OT 3-2. We played well enough to grab 2, atleast we got 1. Marc-Andre and Ward  were great. 

Carolina had way to many breakdowns only to be bailed out by Cam Ward.

The line of Captain Close, Pigman and Shittank were dominate. That prolly was the best game I've seen from Pigman, he had great energy. 

I figured the Lip(to many turnovers) and Ugly would be the keys of this game...NOT!!!  Lip had a break away that seemed to be forever and Ugly blew a opp with a no goal penalty shot in the 3rd. Maybe the Lip needs to show him how to go to his backhand for something different.

Now with a quick turn around we go into Pantherland. Hope the boys can dig deep for this one.

 

Shaken...

as our city tries to make sense out of the fatal shooting of 3 of the cities finest police officers. Here at Pesonen and The Pens want to send out our thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of Eric Kelly,Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III.

May you rest in peace...

Tangradi leads Belleville into second round

Belleville's Eric Tangradi, who the Pens grabbed as part of the trade of Ryan Whitney leads Bulls to a 2-0 lead vs Niagara  in the second round of the OHL Playoffs. Belleville defeated Sudbury 4-2 in the first round where Tangradi had 4G/4A=8pts. Two games into the second round Tangradi has 5 assists.

Should be a good one

Tonights game should be a doozy. Pens at the Canes 7pm. Two of the hottest teams in the nhl doing battle. Anyone one who is unfamiliar with the Canes they actually have mirrored the Pens turn around. I think, but not sure the Canes can clinch a playoff spot with a win.

*2nd time around coaching change in December put Paul Maurice back behind the bench.

*deadline trade brings Erik Cole back..wala they start to roll.

*They have some quailty player in Eric Staal(our captain close's brother),Whitney and remember the name Ruutu w/24 goals this season.

*Both goltenders are hot also. MAF and Aaron Ward(March player of the month)

*plus we will be facing a team with a 10 game winning streak on their home ice.

*Really the only difference I see is they do't house a superstar as we in Ugly and the Lip.

I see this game as a biggie, esp. with the Pens playing tomorrow at 5pm at Florida.  Figuring the game won't be over til around 10 pm. Then boarding and travel to Florida they prolly won't get in to bed til 3-4 am. You know this game is going to physical to say the least. I'm really worried about how tired we will be for tomorrows game.

lets see how Disco Dan handles this....

 

Holding off Lady Alex isn't as easy as we thought...

Last night the falling Crapitals limped into clinching their division with an OTL... Lady Alex has been consistently putting up point and now is only 4 behind Malkin... Things aren't getting any easier for Malkin seeing that one of his wingers decided not to play for the past month, hopefully Cooke can carry the load... Anyways, I will be traveling the next two weeks so posts from me might be fewer and far between, but I'm sure that Kevin will be able to cary the load fine...

Second Team All-Stars...

Our own Golden Boy with the Golden Helmet was named to the AHL second All-Star team. Janne was refered to as "potent" in his first year in North American Hockey.

Pens defenseman Ben Lovejoy was named to the second team.

Wooo... double pens win...

Woo double pens win... Janne was held pointless, and Taffe has close the gap on the points race for the WBS Penguins... Janne did bury another SO goal helping the pens to a win...

On the other side of the state the big Pens made the big bad devils look like junk... Jordan "Captain Close" Staal finally hit the net, he might turn it up here now that he has his confidense back... Malkin and Sid looked great and our defense might have had it's best game this season... ShitTank got hurt, haven't read anything about it yet.... Big game coming up agaisnt the up and coming huricanes...

Janne Snubbed again

I just don't get the Ahl. here is their players of the month for March.

 The American Hockey League announced today that defensemen Justin Fletcher of the Peoria Rivermen and Johnny Boychuk of the Providence Bruins have been named the co-winners of the CCM/AHL Player of the Month award for March. In 14 games each last month, Fletcher recorded three goals, 12 assists and a plus-8 rating for the Rivermen, while Boychuk contributed five goals, eight assists and a plus-12 for the Bruins. 

just by pure numbers Janne kicks their ass.

15 games played

11 goals/3 games with 2 goals

11 assists/3 games with multiple assists

22 points in 11 of the 15 games.

5 games with 2 points

1 game with 3 points 

1 game with 5 points

3 first goals/1 winning goal

some shootout goal/s.. not sure how many..

pens won 10 and loss 5....

What does Janne have to do for some repect??

Double Penguin Actions tonight...

Tonight the WBS Pens will be playing the Binghamton Senators as they continue their run at a divisional title...

On the other side of the state the Pittsburgh Pens will be playing the faltering NJ Devils... The Pens want to make sure they don't take this game lightly, the Devils are a very skilled team with the greatest goalie ever who can play lights out...

Let's hope for a double win tonight