Pens

[Aoki12]

My apologies, my phone keeps correcting zatkoff to zagkoff.

[theoneandonly]

That's a good move.

[Aoki12]

Agreed, although fleury doesn't seem to be showing signs of slowing down it is always good to Have solid backup. And you can call fleurys consistency into question if you want to get knit picky. Keeping him is indeed a good move

[crfball]

How exactly do these playoffs work? I know the highest division winner plays the lowest wild card then the second division winner plays the highest wild card and two and three from each division play each other but after that I've never really heard what happens?

[theoneandonly]

I'm not 100% certain but I believe they still re-seed following the first round. Highest seed left plays lowest seed left and etc.

I didn't check into the validity of this stat but I read somewhere that the Pens haven't trailed at home since Nov 27. If that is accurate that is pretty darn impressive.

[crfball]

I didn't know because if you played in your division until the conference finals you are going to be playing the same teams probably in the playoffs for a couple years straight and that can build rivalries but it would be "boring" not seeing new teams in the playoffs.

[theoneandonly]

Add Dupuis to the injured list. I'm hoping for the best but that certainly looked like a pretty severe injury.

[abpk2903]

I wonder if the pens could easily acquire Mike Rupp back from the Wild. He is scratched nearly every game with them. It could give them some NHL experience with all these regulars out and give the team am enforcer. I will say I hate the goon role in the NHL but until the league starts to protect its star players, they are a necessity. When it's considered a "hip" check, why is the point of contact being made 2 inches above the knee? 3 of these in 2 games plus teams seem to be targeting Sid. If you watch the NFL or NBA you see officials "protect" the stars a little bit. LeBron and MJ always have and always will get calls that Glen Davis isn't getting. Brady, manning, and Brees get more roughing the passer calls than Jake Locker. Do I agree with this? Yes! Those players make their teams, the league, and TV networks a ton of money. People want to see them play. This has always bugged me about the NHL. It seems every year that great players are lost to injury and some of them are due to plays where I feel they should be better protected. You don't see anyone giving LeBron or Brady extra shots near as much as you see it with Crosby, Ovie, Kane, Stamkos, and so on.

[theoneandonly]

Good post... I agree 100% when it comes to "protecting the stars".

I think Glass is back soon but outside of him and Engel there isn't much protection in the lineup. I don't blame the Sens for taking the shots they did last night... Outside of Bortuzzo, Sill and maybe Harry Z no one in the Pens lineup last night is going to effectively drop the gloves... let alone prove as a deterrent not to take shots at 87.

[abpk2903]

Sill is a good option to drop the gloves but with Dupuis out, he will be too relied upon on the PK to be spending 10 minutes at a time in the box. Engel probably won't want to come back from a 5 game suspension (for a first offense) and start gooning it up out there, plus I've never been a fan of defensemen that fight. A team only has 6 of them and losing one for 10 minutes can really mess up rotations.

Plus I'm not necessarily talking about getting fighter. A player like Rupp creates a physical presence without the need to drop the gloves. I know I'm going to think twice about taking a shot at a star if I know my following shift a guy like Thornton, Rupp, Orr, Chris Neal ect is going to be joining me on the ice with one mission, inflict pain.