Looks like Brooks Orpik will be in the lineup for the Penguins tonight when they take on Montreal.  Two days after the Penguins put forth a spirited effort with a depleted line-up to defeat the Minnesota Wild, Orpik’s return certainly helps.  Especially with Kris Letang serving the second game of his two game suspension for a boarding penalty that the rules clearly dictated should not have been called.

According to the rules, if a player puts himself in a vulnerable position, such as turning his back on a checking player, there is no penalty for boarding.  But the refs apparently forgot this and the NHL’s new “Dean of Discipline”, Brendan Shanahan, felt compelled to release a Zapruder like film to explain the suspension he levied because it was so much of a stretch.

Orpik as much needed stability in Letang’s absence.

Montreal is struggling early this season at 1-3-1 but always seem to play the Penguins rough.  We will see if they can win and improve their 4-2-2 record.

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.

Simon Despres, Pittsburgh’s first round pick (and 30th overall) in 2009, finally got some game ice time last night against Columbus.  During his just over seventeen minutes of playing time which included 3:35 of penalty killing work, Despres made a good case that he should be on the Penguins roster come opening day as their seventh defenseman.  The problem is, in all likelihood, is that he will not be.

At age 19 he will likely be sent back to the minors for some more honing and considering the other defensemen in camp likely to make the roster even putting him on the team as the seventh defenseman seems like a long shot.

Orpik, Goligoski, Letang, Michalek and Martin are locks for the starting roster.  The inside track for the sixth and seventh slots goes to Lovejoy, Brian Strait, veteran Andrew Hutchinson and Corey Potter.  So back to the minors it is most likely for Despres unless he can beat out three of those four.  And frankly unless he is going to be the sixth defenseman on the roster sending him down makes the most sense.

He needs playing time to further hone his talents and as a seventh defenseman he will not get it often enough if he stays in Pittsburgh.

Against a Columbus team stacked with young first round picks with worlds of talent Despres stood his ground with a mix of physical and smart play at both ends of the ice.  He faltered at times as any young defenseman would but his performance was solid and he was one the ice for two of Pittsburgh’s three goals (earning a +2) and had four shots.

If the Penguins want to make a splash Despres perhaps should get his shot to play full time but there are other players ahead of him that will get that chance instead.  Only if they falter does it look likely that Despres will get the chance he seems to be earning.

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.

Hard to believe that the Penguins have been as banged up on the blue line as they have considering that they are sitting atop the Atlantic Division. It is almost like the loss of Gonchar, Letang, Goligoski and McKee, each for several weeks and at the same time, did not matter as players like (Dr.) Ben Lovejoy, and Deryk Engelland have filled in nicely and kept the defense sound.

Well, this morning it was announced that Lovejoy and Engelland are heading back to Wilkes-Barre and that means that unless some combination of Letang, Goligoski and McKee are ready to return to the lineup the Penguins would be short handed on defense heading into tonight’s important divisional match up against the Rangers.

Each of the three injured regulars, according to reports, are cleared to play which means the Penguins should for all intents and purposes be back to full strength this evening.

Now, about that struggling power play …

Two days after the Flyers Scott Hartnell was so desperate to know what winning a championship tastes like that he bit Penguins Defenseman Kris Letang in the waning moments of a game in which the Penguins matched the beefed up Flyers rough and tumble style, the Penguins were looking down the barrel of the gun again. Last night the Penguins entered the Great Goonish North to square off against the beefed up, ready to kick your teeth in Toronto Maple Leafs and the result was the same – the Penguins won and the goon squad lost.

The Penguins are proving that they can play teams any way they want to play as they extended their season record to 4-1 while getting scoring Cooke (1), Gonchar (1), Crosby (3,4) and Jordan Staal (2). Staal once again playing on Malkin’s line is giving Coach Bylsma plenty to think about as the young center could have a monster year playing in that coveted role if he remains there all year. Craig Adams once again proved that he could take Staal’s place on the third line by turning in another strong performance.

Despite several fights which did little to spark the Maple Leafs or their fans it was really just an exhibition being put on by the Penguins all night with the Pens superstars dangling with the puck in the offensive zone, Brooks Orpik passing out free candy as if Halloween had already arrived and Marc-Andre Fluery stopping pucks 18 of 20 times to backstop the Pens to victory.

Final score 5 -2 … now the Penguins take a short trip across Canada to prepare to play the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. Toronto remains winless on the young season at 0-4-1 and the fans were obviously restless during last night’s contest as they mock cheered Toskala a couple times for easy saves and rarely cheered loudly even after Toronto players attempted to switch momentum with fights.