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

Welcome back Sid!

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.

No Sid.  No Geno.  How well can the Penguins fare?

Thursday night they put up a spirited effort against a Devils team that seems to have finally figured out how to win.  But they came up short and shut down by the one thing that hasn’t changed in New Jersey this year.  That would be Martin Brodeur.  Oh, they had their chances.  They just could not finish.

Last night the Hurricanes came to town.  A mediocre team this year, the Penguins built a 3-0 lead on an even strength goal by Dustin Jeffrey (2), a power play goal by Mark Letestu (10) and a short handed goal by Pascal Dupuis (10).  Good thing too because Carolina scored twice in the final five minutes to make the game look respectable.

This may be the way the Penguins have to cope until the two headed monster returns.  Without those two they are as good, still, as your average team sitting at 8th or 9th in the Eastern Conference and they are better than teams like the Islanders who they will play to end things out before the All Star Break and to start things up afterwards.

Win the games against the bottom feeders.  Pull out a couple among the better teams.  Then when the team gets healthy make the final run for the playoffs.

Enough is enough!  1-3-0 is unacceptable for a team like the Penguins that are stocked with the talent they have from forward to blue line and in into the goal.

Ok so there are injuries on the Blue Line and the Penguins sent their best option back to Juniors.  No excuse.  This team is still better from their A-line on back than 95% of the teams in the NHL.

Tonight the New York Islanders are in town.  That’s right, the New York Freaking Islanders … a team that has been one of the laughing stocks of the East in recent years.  It is time for the Pens to get serious, bear down and win on home ice for the first time this season.

It’s time for players to not just man up but to HERO UP!  I don’t care who takes up the challenge to rise to the occasion and do something beyond being mediocre during the sixty minutes they are on the ice tonight.  Someone, preferable someones, will decided that they have had enough of the losing and dig down deep to make a win possible.  Sid and Geno need to find their game.  The defense needs to put aside the bruises and defend the blue line.  Everyone needs to pick up their game.

What do you say Pens?  Ready to take up the challenge?  Ready to HERO UP and be the team that you are supposed to be?  Ready to kick some ass?

Quickly approaching the halfway point of the 2009-10 NHL season and the main problem for the Pittsburgh Penguins remains. That problem is an anemic power play.

Ok, since Malkin moved to the left point a few games back there have been signs of a pulse for a unit ranked dead last in the NHL despite having more talent than most teams have on their entire roster. Last night against New Jersey however the Penguins power play was once again a liability going 0-5 and giving teams no reason to fear the unit and not take penalties.

Scoring on just one or two of those man advantages might have turned what ultimately was an embarrassing blowout into an actual contest. But no. Instead Penguins fans were once again left to watch Malkin, Crosby and Gonchar struggle for no apparent reason.

This is getting ridiculous and something serious needs to be done soon. Otherwise, mark my words, the Penguins will end up loosing a round in the play offs if their power play is not corrected.

I think moving Malkin to the point is a good change. But I still think a better change is getting Sid and Geno on separate units altogether. Because as bad as the first unit has been with them both on it, the second unit has been even worse and even less of a threat to opponents.

The Colorado Avalanche are still hanging on to their status as a surprise team in the West based on their tremendous start. However their performance as of late has been anything but spectacular as they came into the Igloo last night for a match against the Penguins who have defied ordinary (Ugh I hate that slogan) and injury to remain one of the league’s elite teams this season.

Despite an early lead thanks to a power play opportunity, in the end Colorado was no match for the Penguins despite a good game plan of close checking that they maintained through the first 40 minutes of play. After that however the Pens took control.

After the Avalanche took the lead in the first the Penguins answered back in the closing second of the period, once again playing to the whistle, and scored to tied the game with just 0:07 left. The goal by Sidney Cosby was his 18th of the season and was assisted by none other than Michael Rupp, one of the hottest players on the Penguins right now. The goal resulted from a 2-1 break after a turn over at the Penguins blue line. Closing in on goal Crosby passed the puck to Rupp who dished the puck right back to Sid as Budaj followed the puck and moved to block Rupp from shooting.

The Pens out shot the Avalanche 14-6 in the period.

The second was a tight checking affair with Colorado outshooting the Pens 9-5 but the third was all Pens as they notched three goals on 14 shots compared to no goals on just one shot for the Avalanche.

Guerin (7) scored on the power play, a rare feat for this team, to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead and just as a 5-3 had expired. But the game was not decided until a pair of empty net goals late from Jordan Staal (7) and Sidney Crosby (19) sealed the deal. On the Crosby goal, Malkin passed to Staal who could have easily taken the shot, but he passed the puck over to Sid who put the puck in the cage.

In all Fleury stopped 15 of 16 shots and played well considering how he sometimes has poor performances when facing relatively few shots.

The Penguins with the win are now 20-9-0 and keeping pace with the Washington Capitals in the East for first place. Both teams have 40 points but the Caps have one fewer game although three fewer wins. Coming up this weekend the Pens will host the Chicago Blackhawks – now with extra Hossa!

Notes:

No Penguin was a negative last night in the plus minus column.

The Penguins are as of last night one of only two teams in the NHL to have not lost a game in overtime/shootout. The only other team with such a distinction is the Vancouver Canucks.

Pittsburgh’s 20 wins is tops in the league.

Pittsburgh’s power play is still terrible clicking at just 14.4% or third worst in the league.

Despite Sidney Crosby getting better in the face off dot this season, the Penguins are still not better than 50-50 as a team (49.5% to be exact or 17th out of 30 teams) meaning that Malkin, Staal and others are not carrying their own weight in this regard.