At the Pens game tonight to once again watch the walking wounded. Good news though is that James Neal is gritting through the pain of a bruise to a bone in his foot originally thought to be broken. He’s a trooper!

Let’s go Pens!

2 Goals, 2 Assists … Like he never missed a beat.

Welcome back Sid!

Sources with the Penguins say that the team will announce later today that Sidney Crosby will be in the lineup Monday when the Penguins host the New York Islanders.

Despite not having Sid or Geno available for last night’s home opener, the Penguins still had a pulse.

Joe Vitale helped power the Penguins to a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers last night notching a pair of assists, finishing the evening +1 an winning timely face-offs. He earned second star status for his first multiple point game of his career.

Vitale earned the primary assist on both Dupuis (1) goal that put the Penguins up 1-0 late in the first and Matt Cooke’s (3) team leading third goal of the season mid way through the second to extend the lead to 2-0.

Mark-Andre Fleury has the save of the game when he reached out with his glove to block a wide open net and then scrambled blindly to keep the puck from going over the goal line.

Florida would get goals from Goc (1) and Fleischmann (1) but the Penguins would add a short handed goal from Richard Park (1) an even strength marker from James Neal (2) to put the game away despite a late chance for the Panthers on the power play. The Panthers would pull their goal tender for the duration of the man advantage but depots playing 6 on 4 hockey, they could not cut into the Penguin’s two goal lead.

Fleury stopped 32 of 34 shots to earn his third win of the season and the Penguins improved to 3-0-1 on the season.

Notes:
- Joe Vitale has been proving his worth this year so far. He has been a headache for other teams to contend with in the face-off dot and now he is setting up his teammates to score.

- James Neal has now scored twice in the first four games of this year compared to just 2 goals last season after becoming a Penguin at the trade deadline. Last night he picked up a valuable garbage goal by heading the the front of the net, something he needs to keep doing.

- The penalty kill of the Penguins confined their impressive play shutting down the Panthers on all five opportunities they had in last night’s game.

Tyler Kennedy, a seriously underrated player for the Penguins has inked a two year deal worth reportedly $4 million total.

Welcome back TK!

My source within the Pens organization tells me that they and Jagr have an understanding about terms for a contract. My source would not cite terms.

Jagr and or his agent should be making this official later today.

My source has not been wrong yet. Let’s see if he/she/it can keep a perfect record.

Update June 30th, 10 AM:

I am being told official announcement to be made Friday at noon.

Update July 1st, 10 AM:

Looks like other sources in the media are confirming all this. Jagr to Pens with announcement at noon today with a big splash page on the site welcoming Jags home.

Update July 1st, 11 AM:

My source says the Penguins are getting ready to revoke their offer to Jags! Citing that the agree they had appears to be off as Jagr seems interested in getting more money than coming to Pittsburgh. Reportedly Mario is fuming.

Update July 1st 11:45 AM:

NHL.com is reporting the Pens have withdrawn their offer.

So much for Jagr’s proclamation that he would return to Pittsburgh for league minimum if asked by Mario. Looks like Jags really hasn’t grown up?

Update July 1st 1 PM:

The Red Wings also have dropped out of the list of teams seeking Jagr. Looks like they are not interested in playing games. Apparently Jagr is.

Received a two word text over lunch from source in the Pens org saying only, “extremely disappointed.”