Secondary - Penguins 5, Avalanche 1

So what happened?

The Avalanche came out and fired the first seven shots of the hockey game.  It was as one-sided as it sounds, as the Pens were slow to get things going.  Fortunately, that sluggishness only lasted about five minutes, and from that point, it was a good old-fashioned beat down.

Asham scored on a 3-on-2 slapper, Engelland scored on a beautiful deflection off the rush from Staal, Geno scored by out muscling Hejda and putting a rebound in (the original shot was Neal hitting the crossbar), Park scored coming out of the penalty box on a breakaway and Sullivan scored into the empty net.

The game really wasn't close enough to pull the goalie, but I guess the Avs figured "Why not?"

Nice to get the two points in a laugher and wrap up a successful road trip.

Who scored?

Asham (3), Engelland (4), Malkin (38), Park (6), Sullivan (13)

The Good?

• Look at the names that scored - Asham, Engelland and Park - three great names to see if your a Pens' fan.  That is a huge lift for a team that can sometimes be top-heavy.
• The fans traveled well - I can't remember a road game with so many vocal Pittsburgh supporters.
• Fleury, fortunately, was ready to start the game, even if all of his teammates weren't quite there yet.
• The defense was really good.  Paul Martin had a good game with two assists and a +3 rating.

The Bad?

• The Avalanche were just plain bad.  They didn't seem to respond to any challenges very well.
• Maybe you could say the Pens took a few too many careless penalties, but let's face it - the game was largely out of reach.

The Ugly?

• Um - the faceoffs.  We won't mention that Staal won just three out of 15 and the team as a whole won just 19 out of 53.  Not a good night at all in the faceoff circle.

Any Surprises?

• Erik Johnson, former #1 overall pick, was a -4 on the night.  Some folks complain about Paul Martin - this guy couldn't get out of his own way tonight.

What's their record now?

The Pens are 38-21-5.  They are all alone in fourth place in the conference, four points ahead of Philly and New Jersey, and eight points behind the Rangers.

Who's next?

Phoenix comes to Consol on Monday night for the start of a four-game home stand.

Game #64 - at Colorado Avalanche

2011-12 Game 64

Pittsburgh Penguins (37-21-5, 79 points) at Colorado Avalanche (33-28-4, 70 points)

Steve Sullivan is expected to play tonight.  No word on whether he'll finally disclose the location of the Fountain of Youth he's been sipping from.

Why does it matter?

The Avs are fighting for their playoff lives.  They're currently three points behind the Dallas Stars for the eighth spot in the West.  The Pens will have a battle on their hands.

What has been happening lately?

• Pens - Four wins in a row, and 16-4-1 in their past 21 games.  Simply amazing.
• Avalanche - They were doing better in February, but then they lost at home to Columbus on Thursday, 2-0.  Pretty poor.

Questions to be answered

• Who will quarterback the power play?  With Letang out, I guess you put Matt Niskanen on the point with Steve Sullivan.  That makes me a little bit nervous.
• Can the D absorb the minutes?  When Letang was out previously, things were a little bit choppy on the blue line.  Paul Martin, especially, saw his numbers suffer.
• Can Geno keep going?  He has a six game point streak on the line, and the Pens will need him to spur the offense tonight.

Keys to the game

• Dig in.  With Letang out, the remaining D will need to suck it up and step up their play, at least on the defensive side of things.  The forwards will need to do most of their own work and not count on having a guy like Letang joining the play.
• Different uniform, same dork.  Steve Downie now plays for he Avalanche.
• Special teams - the Avs PK has allowed a goal in three straight, and their power play simply doesn't get many chances.  The Pens have a clear advantage here - they need to exploit it.

Game #18 - vs Colorado Avalanche

2011-12 Game 18

Colorado Avalanche (8-8-1, 17 points) at Pittsburgh Penguins (10-4-3, 23 points)

If you're an Avs fan, this card is a must-have.  Those are some nice patches.

Why does it matter?

This is a chance for the Pens to get back on the right track after the disappointing loss to the Canes on Saturday night.  It's also a great chance for their penalty kill to get some work against a great power play.  Sid will not return for this one.

What has been happening lately?

• Pens - Just 2-2-1 in their past five, including a bad loss at Carolina.
• Avalanche - Started out 5-1-0.  Since then, they're just 3-7-1, including five losses in their past six games.

Questions to be answered

• If Sullivan is out, who do you throw into the lineup?  Is Dustin Jeffrey ready to return?  How about Tyler Kennedy?
• Can the Pens deal with the balanced scoring attack of the Avs, who have 5 guys with 5 goals or more?
• Can Milan Hejduk be stopped?  He has 5 goals in 8 games against the Pens.

Keys to the game

• Stay out of the box.  The Avs are inconsistent, but can be explosive on the power play.  Don't give them many chances.
• As good as their PP is, the PK for the Avs is just as bad.  Take advantage of that.
• Fix the breakdowns that have cost the Pens in recent games.  No odd-man rushes, and communicate when covering for each other (I'm thinking of Staal and Letang on Saturday).

Penguins 3, Avalanche 2 (OT)

So what happened?

A solid effort on the road against the Avalanche, who sure didn't look like they'd lost a bunch of games in a row.

The Pens were able to withstand several storms as the Avalanche flung pucks in spurts at Marc-Andre Fleury. Flower was able to stop almost everything.

The really encouraging sign was the strong third period played by the Pens and the counter-punch in OT to score the winning goal after the Avs had dominated much of the OT session.

The Wilkes-Barre guys were all pretty solid, and Dan Bylsma was able to roll the lines for the most part (with the exception of Tim Wallace, who only played about six minutes).

Who scored?

Vitale (1), Staal (6), Kennedy (12)

The Good?

• Jordan Staal was the best player on the ice. He responded to Colorado taking a 2-1 lead by scoring less than a minute later to tie the game right away.
• Joe Vitale scored his first NHL goal tonight on a nice shot coming down the middle of the ice. He looks like he will be a great third or fourth line guy.
• The PK stood tall and killed about 40 seconds of a 5-on-3. That was a key moment of the game.

The Bad?

• Not enough shots on the power play. No shots on three of the five power plays for the Pens.
• Really bad penalty taken by Porter, tripping Michalek to put the Pens on the power play in OT.

The Ugly?

• Nick Johnson? Please... no more fighting. You made Ryan Malone look like Mike Tyson in his prime.

Any Surprises?

• Pascal Dupuis is the invisible man right now. I know he's playing big minutes, but he hasn't scored since January 22nd (and has just two goals since Christmas). That's a surprise for a guy like Dupuis, given the top line role he plays.

What's their record now? Any important move in the standings?

The Pens are now 36-19-4.

Who's next?

The road trip continues with a stop in Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

Game #59 - at Colorado Avalanche

Game 59

Penguins (35-19-4, 74 points) at Avalanche (25-26-6, 56 points)

Why does it matter?
The Pens will have a chance to get back in the winning column against a team from the West. That recipe worked well for them last Thursday against Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they may be catching the Avs at the wrong time.

What has been happening lately?

• Pens - New York was a city of horrors this past weekend for the Pens.
• Avalanche - 1-10 in their past 11 games pretty much says it all for the Avs, unless you count the brief return and sudden departure of Peter Forsberg.

Questions to be answered

• Are the Pens catching the Avs at a bad time? Consider that the Avalanche seem to have hit rock bottom, lost 9-1 on Monday to Calgary at home. I'd look for a strong rebound performance from Colorado, or some frustration at the very least.
• Will the Pens experience with the nonsense against the Isles help them stay calm if Colorado gets desperate, or will it make them that much quicker to react?
• What is wrong with the PK? Five goals allowed over the past two games won't get it done.

Keys to the game

• Stay calm. The Avs are likely to be frustrated, given that only one of their losses was a one-goal game (meaning, they've been getting whipped). Nonsense is likely to follow (see Phillipe Dupuis knee-on-knee hit on Jokinen on Monday).
• Keep them bottled up. The Avs have managed just 41 shots over the last two games combined.
• Make Friday a distant memory. A win would go a long way towards moving the team forward from the ugliness.

Penguins 4, Avalanche 1

So what happened?
Two more goals were scored with an empty net in an Avalanche game, but this time they weren't scored by the Avs. The Pens used a power play goal to gain the lead and then put it away when Budaj vacated the net. Don't look now, but Sid has 19 goals on the season and the power play was able to get a huge goal.

Who scored?
Crosby (18,19), Guerin (7), Staal (7)

Any surprises?
The Pens held the Avalanche to just 16 shots, but that's not the surprise. The surprise is that it wasn't their best total of the season. The best was 15 shots allowed in a 2-1 loss to Minnesota.

Any change in the standings?
No, but the Pens are pulling further ahead of Jersey in the division.
Division: 1st (5 points ahead of New Jersey)

Conference: 1st (tied with Washington)

League: 2nd (3 points behind San Jose)

Who's next?
Hossa (and Toews and Kane) visit the Igloo for a big Saturday night game.

Notes:

• Budaj was pretty good last night.
• The power play scored when it mattered. That's huge.
• Out shooting the Avalanche 15-1 in the third was also huge.

Game #29 - vs Colorado Avalanche

Game 29

Avalanche (15-8-6, 36 pts) at Penguins (19-9-0, 38 pts)


Mellon Arena - Pittsburgh

Why does it matter?
The Avs have been tough in the early going this year, hanging near the top of the standings in the NHL. They are a good test for the Pens.

What has been happening lately?

• Pens - The Pens just completed a two game sweep of the Rangers, out scoring them 13-5 over two games.
  
• Avalanche - Other than their furious comeback in their shoot out loss to the Panthers last night (scored twice in the last 60 seconds), the Avs have struggled lately. Their high water mark was 10-1-2 back on October 28th. They're just 5-7-4 since then.

Questions to be answered

• The Pens are just 4-4 against the Western Conference. Can they improve on that record?
  
• There's no chance the Pens are looking past the Avs to the game with the Blackhawks on Saturday, right?
  
• I'm still looking for a shut out from a Pens goalie. Can they get one?
  

Keys to the game

• The biggest key may be that Craig Anderson played last night, and thus may not play against the Pens. That's huge, because Anderson has been strong against the Pens over the last two seasons in three games.
  
• Injuries have hurt the Avs - they're missing both Hejduk and Jones, which means they're without two of their top three goal scorers. Hejduk may play tonight.
• Keep the Avs off of the power play - they're 4-14 over their past four games.

Avalanche 5, Penguins 3

What can we say that hasn't been said? The team continues to struggle.

The Pens didn't play horribly, but they also didn't play well.

They were unable to generate any consistent offense. I think their 5 on 5 performance during this run has been pretty poor.

The goaltending was pretty bad. Sabu allowed 4 through two periods. He probably should have stopped a few of those.

The other thing is that this team is really shorthanded right now. Think about their lines tonight. The first line started out as Sid, Geno and Sykora. The only other top 9 forwards not in the dog house were Staal, Cooke, Kennedy and Talbot. You had Godard, Satan (in the aforementioned dog house) plus an entire Wilkes-Barre contingent (Minard, Wallace and Jeffrey).

I still think Therrien is the coach for this team. Just as the long winning / point streaks the past two years were contagious, the losing has become the same. They need to fight through this and find a way to break out of it.

Next up: A few nights to think about a matchup at Philly on Tuesday. Better bring your "A" game there.

Avalanche 3, Penguins 2

I think the recap for this one is quite simple - the Pens had three power play chances beginning in the last two minutes of the second period through to the end of the game, along with pulling Sabourin at the end, and couldn't mount any sustained offense. I know they had 12 shots in the third, but I'd be hard-pressed to label any of them a good scoring chance.

Whitney went out with a strained groin and that seemed to completely upset the apple cart. No one seemed capable of playing the other point, and Gonchar and Crosby just ran out of gas.

Sabourin allowed a few he probably would like to have back. Does this mean we'll see Fleury on Saturday? I would bring him back, but that's just me.

One other thing - did you notice who received significant ice time when the Avs were on the penalty kill? How about Sakic, Smyth, Stastny and Hedjuk.

Next up: on Long Island to play the well-rested Islanders

Game #12 - at Colorado Avalanche

Pittsburgh Penguins (6-4-1, 13 pts) at Colorado Avalanche (7-4-0, 14 pts)

vs

The Pens will face another big challenge when they play the Avalanche in Denver. The Avs have a few things going for them:

• They're undefeated at home (5-0)
• They're pretty loaded offensively with Sakic, Stastny, Smyth, Brunette, Svatos, Wolski, and Arnason.
• Their special teams at home are good (power play 6-25, penalty kill 19-23)
• Did I mention they're undefeated at home?

Each team most recently beat the Minnesota Wild. Peter Budaj has played most of the home games, and I'd expect that to continue against the Pens. The Avalanche have been helping him out by keeping the shot totals quite low. They've only had one home game where they've allowed more than 30 shots, and that's despite being short-handed at least 5 times in three of those games.

The Pens need to continue their good play from the other night in Minnesota. If the Avs have a weakness, it's on their blue line. Only two defensemen have a goal, and the one with the most most minutes (Hannan) is a -7.

Avalanche blog - check out Jerseys and Hockey Love. The review of the game against the Wild is secondary to the paragraph about the sadness of watching the Rockies lose in the World Series. Feels like 1992 all over again.

Let's Go Pens!