Bits And Pieces

– Sidney Crosby has been named one of the finalists for the Ted Lindsay award, awarded to the league’s most outstanding player and voted on by members of NHLPA.

Crosby is up against Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightening, and his old friend Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.

Crosby was having a stellar season up until he took a puck to the jaw and missed the last month of the season. Despite that, he still finished tied for third in points. Good luck to Sid!

– Some big changes for game 5 tonight. Tomas Vokoun will be starting today, instead of Marc-Andre Fleury, who hasn’t been playing his best recently. This will be Vokoun’s first playoff game since 2007.

Letang’s A Finalist!

Congrats Tanger!

The NHL announced this morning that Penguins defenceman Kris Letang is one of the three finalists for the Norris Trophy, the award for the “defensive player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.”

Letang is up against PK Subban of the Montreal Canadiens and Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild. All worthy candidates, to be honest.

Despite playing only 35 games of the 48 game season, Letang tied with Subban for most points among defencemen, with 38 points (5G, 33A), a career best for him.

He had a plus-16 rating, which was the highest of his career, and averaged 25:38 minutes of ice time.

The last Penguins defenceman to win the Norris was Randy Carlyle in 1981.

Congratulations, Kris!

Crosby Returns!

He’s baaaaaaaack

Game 2 of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs the New York Islanders just got a little more interesting.

The Penguins announced this morning captain Sidney Crosby, who has been out with a broken jaw since March 30th, will make his return to the lineup tonight. He missed the last 12 games of the regular season and the 1st game of the playoff series.

“I’m cleared to play tonight,” Crosby said. “I’m excited to get back in there and play in the playoffs.

“(The doctor) was around and I wasn’t sure if he would give me the OK or even consider it. I’m happy that he did and happy to be back.”

Speculation started mounting that he was ready to return when, instead of practicing with the spare line at practice, Crosby was reunited with his usual linemates Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz. He also took a spot on the first power play unit.

This isn’t the first time Crosby is making a comeback against the Islanders. We all remember what happened last time he did.

Puck drops for game 2 at 7:00pm. Let’s Go Pens!

The Perks Of Being A Wall, Flower

The Pittsburgh Penguins went into game 1 against the New York Islanders without Sidney Crosby or Brooks Orpik and managed to come out with a 5-0 win.

Beau Bennett opened up the scoring, scoring a power play goal. He was the first rookie to score the opening goal of the playoffs since Jordan Staal did against Ottawa in 2007.

Pascal Dupuis scored his first of 2 after that, and the Pens took the 2-0 lead into the second.

Kris Letang scored the third goal early into the second period, and less than a minute later, Pascal Dupuis scored again.

Tanner Glass sealed the deal by scoring the fifth goal. Yes, Tanner Glass.

Marc-Andre Fleury got the first shutout of the playoffs, and the 6th shutout of his playoff career, tying Tom Barrasso for the team record.

It wasn’t all fun though. James Neal took a hit and a slash from Travis Hamonic, played one more shift, than didn’t return for part of the second and the whole third period. Then near the end of the game, Jussi Jokinen was hit my Marty Reasoner. He left the game, but with only a few minutes left, it isn’t clear what the extent of the injury is.

This was a great effort, but let’s not get overly cocky. We need to win 3 more to make it to the next round.

The next game is on Friday, May 3rd at 7:00PM. Let’s Go Pens!

Crosby Out For Game 1

The Pittsburgh Penguins go up against the New York Islanders in game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight. However, a couple of familiar faces won’t be playing.

Sidney Crosby, who has been out since March 30 after being hit with a puck and shattering his jaw, will not play tonight. He says that while his doctor thinks everything looks good, he still isn’t ready to give him the green light for full contact.

Brooks Orpik, who has been out with an undisclosed lower body injury, also won’t be playing tonight. He didn’t give any info on what was wrong with him.

With these two out of the lineup, Pens will have to make do with Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Jarome Iginla, Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Fleury, Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, and Brenden Morrow. The horror.

Puck drops at 7:30 tonight. Let’s Go Pens!