In a move that seems to foreshadow someone knowing that Sidney Crosby is probably getting ready to return to the ice for the Penguins, Pittsburgh today dealt ALex Goligoski to Dallas in exchange for scoring winger James Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen. Before you say Matt Who?, Niskanen is the guy that Crosby absolutely embarrassed during a fight on November 3rd in Dallas:

That should lead to an interesting introduction when he and Sid first appear in the locker room together. You sort of wonder if Crosby was consulted before this trade … but not really because Sid is a professional and much like we saw with Asham and Cooke, what happens on the ice when players on opposing teams is washed away when they suit up for the same club.

As for Neal, well he has the scoring touch that you would like to see in a winger for Crosby at least for the price that was paid. He has 21 goals and 39 points this season. Last year he had 27 goals and 28 assists.

Goligoski became the casualty of a deep blue line for the Penguins. He has the skill to be a top four defenseman but was wallowing as the #5 man in the Penguins defensive corps. And with Despres all but ready to join the Penguins next year someone had to go. And that someone was not going to be Michalek or Martin both of whom the Pengiuns acquired at good prices and locked up long term this past off season. Orpik wasn’t going anywhere and neither was All-Star Kris Letang. Deryk Engelland also was not heading anywhere now that he has established himself as a solid defenseman who can take over the enforcer role for the Penguins when Goddard is most likely not resigned.

Sad to see Go Go go, but overall this trade helps the Penguins and helps Go Go too. In Dallas he will get more ice time and more responsibility as a #3 or #4 defenseman than he would get here in Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were not weighed down by too much turkey on Thansksgiving as on Friday night they won a hard fought game against the Ottawa Senators 2-1 and on Saturday they breezed past the Calgary Flames 4-1. The Senators, now 9th in the East, have struggled.

Through Saturday the Senators had scored 14 less goals than they have allowed and are 4-6-0 in their last ten. Despite jumping out to a 1-0 lead against the Pens, Evgeni Malkin (8 – PPG) and Alex Goligoski (5) provided all the offense needed in front of Marc-Andre Fleuy’s 43 save performance. Despite 21 shot in the first period, Ottawa just could not find the net.

Calgary has been on of the worst teams in the Western Conference this year. After loosing to the Penguins their record stood at just 9-12-2 but with a goal differential of just -5 on the year they are capable of staying in games. But the Penguins jumped on them early in the second with a goal by Arron Asham (3) and a hat trick by Sidney Crosby (16, 17 & 18) thanks to the empty net to make the game never in doubt. Brent Johnson spelled Fleury who has been red hot lately and made 30 saves as the Penguins shot the puck 43 times.

The win against the Flames was the Penguins sixth in a row and they have points in their last 9 going 8-0-1 in that time. Over their last ten games the Penguins are 8-1-1.

Next up for the 15-8-2 Penguins are the 14-10-1 Rangers on Monday night. Last time these two teams met the Penguins scored two late goals to take a 2-1 lead only to see the Rangers score late to tie the game and then finish the Pens off in overtime.

One game does not a trend make, but last night the Penguins looked like they finally understood what they needed to do to win a game and do so convincingly. While it took a while for any scoring to occur, once the Penguins found the net they kept finding it. The team also played solid defensively, for once, in front of Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury was only called on to make fifteen saves on sixteen shots but many of those saves were class Fleury where he flopped, threw out a glove or kicked out a leg with reflexes that few goalies in the league posses. In short, two nights after Brent Johnson and the Penguins collapsed in the third period against Boston, giving up five goals and loosing, the Penguins rebounded and got a solid performance in net that kept a feisty Tampa Bay squad at bay.

In the second period it was Pascal Dupuis (5) who opened up the scoring at 8:01 of the second period tipping in a shot from Kris Letang. Twenty-seven seconds later it was Alex Goligoski (4) who upped the score to 2-0 with a wrist shot into a wide open net.

In the third period the Penguins got into early penalty trouble and Steve Stamkos (15) buried a slap shot past Fleury on a 5-on-3 power play. The Penguins had to kill off another two man advantage before they were able to get rolling again. Mad Max Talbot (3), Sidney Crosby (11) and Deryk Engelland (1) all added scores to extend the lead to 5 to 1 where it remained when the final horn sounded.

Pittsburgh’s five goals came on just 20 shots while the game was marked with distinctly better and more sound defensive play than in previous games.

Engelland with his goal bounced back from some previous bad games. He finished a +3 on the evening. On a night where everyone seemed to be in on the act, Evgeni Malkin had no assists and no goals.

To find out if this will be a trend the 8-8-1 Penguins will take to the ice again tonight to take on the Atlanta Thrashers. Atlanta is 7-6-3 on the season.

Despite on ice officials making a terrible call on Kris Letang, ejecting him from the game for a phantom headshot that never happened, the Penguins beat the New York Islanders 3-2 in OT. The Letang penalty which was called on a clean shoulder to shoulder hit against the Islanders Blake Comeau came with Pittsburgh leading the game 2-0 in the second. The game turned and New York eventually tied the contest at 2-2. The Penguins have announced that they will appeal the penalty.

Pittsburgh played a lackluster game in the first period. In second period it was Mike Rupp (1) who gave the Penguins a lead 4:07 into the period. Tangradi (1) scored his first at 6:57 to extend the lead and the Penguins looked to have figured out that playing hard in front of the opponents net and actually shooting the puck would result in goals. But the Letang penalty derailed the Pens for a while.

Josh Bailey (2) scored during the five minute major which was cut to a three minute man advantage thanks to him jumping on Letang after the phantom penalty. He had to serve two minutes for that before jumping back on the ice to score. Radek Martinek (1) scored less than two minutes later to tie the game.

The game remained that way until overtime. Milan Jurcina of the Islanders took a hooking penalty 52 seconds in and it was Alex Goligoski (3) who ended it with a wrist shot.

Johnson, starting in goal in place of Fleury who struggled in Wednesday’s loss to the Maple Leafs, stopped 22 shots. He looked solid most of the game. He improved his record to 2-0 and is the only Penguins goalie to win a game yet this season. But before the Fleury bashers get on this train, realize that both those wins have come against teams beat up due to injuries. The Islanders were missing key players last night and New Jersey only skated with 15 (instead of 18) players due to salary cap issues.

The Penguins are now 2-3-0 on the season with 4 points. They play today at 6:00 PM against the Philadelphia Flyers who won the inaugural game at the Consol Energy Center 3-2.

Messaged delivered to the Montreal Canadiens – the Pittsburgh Penguins are not the Washington Capitals.  Everything about game 1 last night at the old Igloo was a contrast to how the Canadiens had succeeded to down the “best” team in the NHL.  At least the “best” team based on record anyway.

In their previous series the Canaidens blocked shots, shut down the power play and Jaroslav Halak stoned the Caps to rebound from a deficit of three games to one and win the series.  Last night however the Penguins were methodical in their shot selection, picked the canadiens apart on the power play and chased Halak from the net.  Although it did not start out that way.

PK Subban (1) scored not even five minutes into the game to give Montreal a 1-0 lead and Canadiens fans were over joyed.  But the Penguins took control by picked apart the Habs defense, drawing penalties and converting on the chances they were given on the power play.  Gonchar (1), Staal (2) and Letang (3) each scored with the man advantage in the first and second period to put the Penguins up 3-1.

Michael Cammalleri (6) cut the deficit to one late in the second but Craig Adams (2) extended the score to 4-2 even later in the same period taking a pass from Pascal Dupuis across the front of the net and beating Halak.  Alex Goligoski (2) added yet another power play goal early in the third to make it 5-2 and chase Halak from net in favor of Carey Price.  Price made several saves and the Penguins missed golden opportunities to stretch the lead even further before Brian Gionta (3) scored for Montreal on the power play to make it a 5-3 contest.

Late it was Billy Guerin (3) putting in an empty net goal to end it all at 6-3.

The game was a wake-up call for the Canadiens who basically had their way with a high powered Capitals lineup previously.  But the game should not be taken in and of itself that this series will be a cake walk for the Penguins either.  Montreal did not succeed in shutting down the Pens in game 1 but game 2 will tell whether or not Montreal learns from the experience and adjusts.

Marc-Andre Fleury was able to hold down the fort with several great saves at times against the Canadiens and had any of those found the net this game could have been a lot different.  In fact Montreal out shot the Penguins 31-24 on the night and netted 12 shots in both the second and third periods; way too many.  Pittsburgh will have to hone its defense to prevent that from happening again.  But they may have to do so without Jordan Staal who is as far as I am concerned the premier shut down center in the NHL.  Staal was injured in a collision with Montreal’s PK Subban.  Staal hobbled to the bench and later left the arena on crutches.  As of this morning the injury was still undisclosed as nothing other than a lower body injury.

Notes:

Where was the Penguins power play during the regular season?  Last night was just another dominating perfromance for a unit that couldn’t seem to hit the broad side of the barn during the regular season.  The power play went 4 for 4 in game one against Montreal.

Three of Pittsburgh’s four power play goals were scored by their blue liners.

Jaroslav Halak faced only five shots when the Canadiens were down a man.  He stopped only one.  Marc-Andre Fleury also faced five shots on the penalty kill.  He stopped four.

Jordan Staal logged 8:49 of playing time before being injured with one goal and was a -1.

The Penguins scored six goals.  Each goal was scored by a different player.  Crosby and Malkin had none of them but had two assists and one assist respectively.

Last night the Pittsburgh Penguins brought to an end an important chapter for hockey in the city as the team played the final regular season game ever at the Igloo. The question now is how many playoff games will be seen before the final post season game is played there.

Facing off against the lowly New York Islanders, the stars looked align for a good night which started with commemorative tickers to all fans in attendance, then a ceremony celebrating all the great players who have skated on the arena’s ice and which fans hopes would end with a victory. Especially considering that there is still a chance for the Penguins to rise in the standings before the end of the season depending on what they and the Devils do.

Just 23 seconds in, Brooks Orpik (2) helped the Penguins stake out a 1-0 lead. At 5:01 Alex Goligoski (8) made it 2-0 on the power play. But the Penguins gave the Islanders a chance with a power play and the lead was cut to 2-1 just three and a half minutes later.

Evgeni Malkin (26) stretched the score to 3-1 with just under five minutes remaining but not even two minutes later the Islanders against scored to make it a 3-2 game. With just 58 seconds left in the first period however Sidney Crosby (49) notched another goal to make it a 4-2 contest.

Fleury, honestly looked shaky in net. When the second period resumed and with just about seven minutes gone the Islanders scored again to once again make it a one goal game and move the score to 4-3.

It took a while but the Penguins put the hammer down. Bill Guerin (20) added his twentieth of the season on the power play and two minutes later Mr. (Tyler) Kennedy (13) added another marker. When the smoke cleared at the end of the second, the score stood at Penguins 6 and the Islanders 3.

Bill Guerin (21) added goal number seven at 1:46 of the third and the Penguins cruised to a victory to put them back into a points wise tie with New Jersey in the Eastern Conference. However New Jersey holds all tie breakers.

Some people have been wondering when the Penguins, who frankly have looked like they were willing to sleep walk through the final month of the season were going to flip the switch and get serious after failing to put up much of a fight against teams like New Jersey and Washington. Well, honestly, it probably still hasn’t happened even though last night was a positive sign. And spare me please the stats about how the Penguins have won more than they have lost over the past thirty some odd days. Their record is not that good.

Since March 1st, by my count, this team is 10-5-4. Which is basically .500 in the win loss department when you properly count the over time and shoot out losses as what they are – losses. This team is 10-9. Not only are they 10-9 but the have lost to both New Jersey and Washington twice in that span. You know, important teams that they will have to face more likely than not come the playoffs?

But there were some good sings that this team actually has their fingers on that switch and are indeed ready to flip it and get serious. After a first period where the Penguins defense and goal tending (yes, Fleury is not playing well and highly at fault so stop making excuses for him about how the defense is letting him down) Fleury played like Fleury on a flurry of shots by the Islanders in the second where he had to stop three point blank shots. The last one he was badly out of position but still defending his net like the man that helped Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup.

The Penguins put their boots on the Islanders necks after this and never let them get up. Again, another problem the Penguins have had is letting teams stick around and not putting them away.

Two games remain. And neither are cake walks despite them being against Atlanta and the New York Islanders again. The Penguins need to build momentum and win both. Not just to convince fans that they are ready for another run at Lord Stanley’s cup but also to convince their opponents that the Penguins are a threat to win against anyone, anywhere and any time. And besides, there is still the chance to finish even higher in the standing at stake as well.