Penguins Blog

How To Fix The Powerplay

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:37:51 GMT

The good thing about an 82-game season is that when you play a clunker of a game, you have the opportunity to regroup and rebound in the next couple of days.

What happened in Ottawa was what I believe has been the Pens' worst effort this season, followed closely by the 3-0 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes earlier this season.

Things started out great too, with Jordan Staal redirecting a puck past Pascal Leclaire just seconds into the game. Little did we all know that would be the highlight of the evening.

The team just didn't bring their A-game. It's as simple as that.

They looked flat, the Senators were able to control the puck at will in the offensive zone and least surprising was the ineffectiveness of the powerplay that went 1-for-5 in the game.

The lone powerplay goal came from Evgeni Malkin when the Pens were already down five goals in the third period, so I wouldn't suggest getting all excited about powerplay goals in consecutive games.

Clearly something needs to be fixed on the powerplay as it has become extremely predictable. The Pens overload one side of the ice with Sidney Crosby, Malkin and Sergei Gonchar. For those keeping track, that's three guys and in most penalty-killing situations the other team has four.

When there isn't a Penguin going to the net and the other pointman is standing flat footed at the blue line, it's easy for the other team to collapse the box and gravitate toward the three guys who will fire the puck 95 percent of the time.

Of course, that's provided they can get control of the puck in the offensive zone and set up the powerplay.

If you are going to softly dump the puck into the corner and then chase it, make sure you have two guys attacking the poor defenseman who goes back to retrieve it. Powerplays are all about creating 2-on-1s and the Pens have been far too content to keep 1-on-1 matchups with an extra guy making more work for the Zamboni driver.

The other predictable entrance into the zone is for any of the five guys to weave through three opposition players, gain the blue line and pull up along the half-wall. Look at the Senators game for countless examples of this.

A Penguin would gain the zone, turn to the boards and immediately have a Senator pressuring them.

When this entrance is used, at least two Pittsburgh players are either standing or gliding along the blue line, so when the entrance is made the puck carrier has no support.

My suggestion is for the Pens to use a timed dump and chase. Here's how it works:

Designate two guys to hit the blue line at full speed, preferably Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin in the case of the top unit at this time. Sub Chris Kunitz for Fedotenko when he comes back.

Let either Crosby, Malkin or Gonchar be a couple strides behind and fire a hard slap shot around the boards in the zone.

With the two players hitting the line at full speed, they can overwhelm the opposing player who goes back for the puck. In some cases you may even see the puck come around the net and up along the side wall for Malkin or Crosby. This way you already have two guys in the zone with three guys coming in support to get into their powerplay positions to set up the formation.

Again, you try and create 2-on-1s on the powerplay and this model does.

The other issue I have is that guys are way too spread out.

There are been plenty of times recently where both pointmen were standing near the boards on opposite sides of the blue line. What happens here is that a pass along the line takes to long to get a decent look at the net because the penalty killers have too much time to slide over a couple feet.

In this scenario, you're effectively playing 4-on-4 hockey and making the job that much harder on yourself.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the lack of traffic in front of opposing goaltenders on the powerplay is also a problem. The penalty killers might as well lay down next to each other in the slot to block all the cross-ice pass attempts. They already know the pass through the box is coming anyway because there's a widespread hesitation to shoot the puck and bang for rebounds.

I'm not going to suggest breaking up the personnel on the ice, but the contrast in styles between the first and second units is rather apparent. The second unit goes to the net because that's how they play at even strength. The first unit plays a finesse game that just isn't working right now.

I keep holding out hope that once everyone gets healthy, all these issues will go away and we'll once again see the team that was dominating all comers in October.

The Pens get another chance in Atlanta tonight to get this road losing streak stopped. Hopefully by then, this headache I have that is a direct result of trying to sort out this powerplay mess, will be gone.

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Pens' Depth Shows In Win Over Ducks

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:27:48 GMT

I don't think I was alone in setting the bar rather low for last night's game against the Ducks after getting word earlier in the day that Alex Goligoski would miss the next two-to-three weeks with a lower-body injury.

As a result, that meant that four of the six defensemen on the opening night roster were on the shelf and there would be three guys in the lineup with minimal NHL experience. Goligoski's injury also meant that seven players and six opening night starters were out of the lineup.

Normally, that's not a good sign, but my hat is off to Ben Lovejoy, Deryk Engelland and most-recent call-up Nate Guenin.

There were a couple rough spots and some bad turnovers, but for the most part the defense played well.

Pittsburgh-area native Guenin stepped in and started taking the body and making good decisions with the puck. A far cry from the guy who used to wear the No. 2 jersey.

Even in the offensive end Guenin was making the smart decisions.

Every time the puck came back to him at the point, he threw it back toward the net. What more could you want from a rough and tough defenseman?

With all the offensive-minded defensemen out of the lineup, Guenin and Co. just throwing the puck on goal is a brilliant move. Not trying to toot my own horn here, but didn't I just call for more pucks to the net and to start crashing to break out of that funk they were in?

Martin Skoula followed suit and waited for a screen to be established before firing a wrist shot to the short-side on Jean-Sebastien Giguere for the fourth goal of the game.

Traffic creates scoring chances. Plain and simple.

Matt Cooke's goal 91 seconds into the game was a direct result of traffic out in front as well.

BREAKING NEWS: The powerplay finally got a goal last night as well.

Mark Eaton and Evgeni Malkin were playing the point on the top unit and the team seemed to have better chances overall than in the past eight games.

The player movement visibly confused the Ducks, who had no idea who to key on with Sidney Crosby and Malkin rotating to all five positions on the powerplay. On their second chance in the game, Bill Guerin slipped into a soft spot in the high slot and ripped a slapper by Giguere to put the Pens up 2-0 early.

When the Penguins get solid puck movement and are moving players all around the ice, they are going to be successful on the powerplay. When they stop moving and only look for a Malkin slapshot or Crosby to walk out from behind the net, they will struggle.

FSN did a great job of pointing out that the Pens gave the Ducks three different looks on one powerplay.

Eaton slipped in on the back side (aka the Ryan Whitney) and just missed, Malkin moved into the slot and let one fly and Crosby had a chance of his own down low.

How do you approach killing a penalty when the other team is changing its strategy on the fly like you would in a video game?

The different looks created confusion on the Ducks' side of things and the Pens got solid looks at the net. I'm not as worried about the goals not coming in bunches on the powerplay yet. You have to do the little things and if they continue to show what they did last night, the goals will come.

One final note, congratulations to Engelland for recording his first NHL point when he hit Jordan Staal in stride behind the defense in the second period. Staal moved in on a breakaway and scored the ninth shorthanded goal of his career to put the Pens up 3-1.

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Guenin Recalled, Goligoski Out 2-3 Weeks

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:06:07 GMT

Is anybody else getting tired of reading these incessant injury reports for the Pens?

I know I am.

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that Nate Guenin had been called up from Wilkes-Barre Scranton after Alex Goligoski missed Sunday's practice for a maintenance day.

Goligoski also missed practice today and it was announced afterwards he would miss the next two-to-three weeks with a "lower-body" injury.

This injury is another tough pill to swallow.

With already having Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang out of the lineup, Goligoski was the only remaining offensive defenseman left to run the powerplay. Martin Skoula has some offensive touch, but he's not on the same level as those three.

For a powerplay unit that is struggling as badly as it is -- they currently rank 28th in the league at 13.2 percent -- the question now becomes, who do you turn to when the Pens get an advantage?

Ruslan Fedotenko is already playing the point on the powerplay alongside Goligoski, so do you move Skoula up or drop Evgeni Malkin back and throw caution to the wind by going with five forwards?

I'd almost rather see Skoula so there's at least a defenseman on the ice. You could even put Lovejoy out there. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see five forwards given how depleted the team is right now.

There is some good news today though despite the fact that they have a game tonight against the Ducks and will be missing seven opening-day starters.

Gonchar has been cleared for contact and I'm going to say that's a very good sign for his return. At this point, the sooner the better as four of the top-six defensemen on the roster are currently on the shelf.

If we've learned anything from this season it's that if someone takes a maintenance day, bad things could be coming.

Here is the official release on Guenin from the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled defenseman Nate Guenin from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

After signing with the Penguins in the offseason, Guenin became the third Pittsburgh native to join the Penguins organization in the last three seasons (Bill Thomas, 2008-09; Ryan Malone, 2003-08). Guenin, 26, is a Hopewell High School graduate and played one season (1999-00) with the Pittsburgh Hornets.

In his first 15 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this year, Guenin has posted a plus-1 rating to go with his 22 penalty minutes. Guenin was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers organization the last three seasons. He saw action in 12 NHL games, posting two assists. Guenin (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) spent the majority of his time with the club’s top minor-league affiliate the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL. During that time, Guenin recorded 43 points (7G-36A) and 333 penalty minutes in 207 contests.

Guenin joined the Flyers after playing four collegiate seasons at Ohio State, notching 53 points (6G-47A) and 390 penalty minutes in 151 games. He served as team captain during his senior season and received honorable mention for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Star Team. In his lone season with the Pittsburgh Hornets, Guenin scored 13 points (3G-10A) and totaled 122 penalty minutes in 40 games.

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Words Can't Describe It

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:20:13 GMT

To say last night's game against the Bruins was incredible, wouldn't do it justice.

The Penguins and Bruins played what was probably the most exciting game of hockey since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals this Spring.

The teams traded goals all night long and the Pens came within just 0.4 seconds of dropping their fifth straight game.

With Brent Johnson on the bench, the Penguins were pinned deep in their own end as time was ticking down. The puck came loose along the far wall and the Pens took off on a 3-on-2 the other way.

Evgeni Malkin fed a cross-ice pass to a streaking Bill Guerin who unleashed a wicked wrister that beat Tim Thomas to the stick-side to tie the game at 5-5 with less than a second remaining.

I was sitting on the couch sulking about how a questionable tripping call on Sidney Crosby led to a 5-on-3 powerplay goal for Boston to tie the game at 4-4 and how Marco Sturm appeared to redirect a Zdeno Chara shot past Johnson with his glove to put them ahead 5-4.

I saw Guerin's shot tickle the twine and couldn't believe it. I was up off the couch yelling and pumping my fist. Yes, all that reaction for a regular season game in November.

At this point in the evening, I'm happy we at least salvaged a point in the game after scoring five goals.

Then, in overtime Thomas pulled a move similar to Patrick Roy in Game 4 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals.

Ty Conklin had an equally as devastating blunder in Game 1 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals as well.

Thomas went behind the net to stop a dump in by Martin Skoula and left the puck for his defenseman. Only problem was that the defenseman thought Thomas was going to play the puck.

Jordan Staal was coming around the net from Thomas' blind-side and picked up the loose puck and chipped it out to Pascal Dupuis, who deposited it into the vacated net to give the Pens a 6-5 win.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Recap
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Recap
Highlights From Last Night's Wild Win

The disbelief of what I just saw had set in, but I know that if anyone had been looking in the window at me that they probably would have called for help. Amid the clapping and hollering, I somehow ended up doing the celebratory double knee slide across the floor like a soccer player. Again, no idea what possessed me to go that route in the celebration, but my knees are still a little tender this morning.

The goal was Dupuis' 100th of his career and it couldn't have come at a better time. The win snapped a four-game losing streak in which they had only scored three goals and were shutout twice.

By getting the win, the team didn't waste an outstanding all-around effort that seems to have been lacking over the past four games.

Malkin returned to the lineup after missing the last seven games and recorded three assists giving him 17 points (4 goals, 13 assist) on the season.

Dan Bylsma paired the "two-headed monster" by putting Crosby and Malkin together on the top line.

Crosby benefited from the move as well and added a goal and two assists to give him 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) on the season.

His goal came in the second period after he deflected a shot by Alex Goligoski to the shelf over Thomas.

Minutes later, Goligoski nearly took Chara's head off with a bomb from the point that actually broke the glass behind the Bruins' net.

I knew Goligoski had a heavy shot, but he uncorked a couple last night that had me thinking he might be able to give Chara a run for his money in the hardest shot competition.

Maybe last night was a sign of a momentum swing for the season. We'll find out on Monday night when Ryan Whitney returns to the Mellon Arena for the first time since the trade for Chris Kunitz at the deadline last season.

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Kunitz Out 2 Weeks

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:58:56 GMT

To update Jory's earlier post, the Penguins got more bad news on Saturday.

Evgeni Malkin is expect to play tonight against Boston, but Mark Letestu will dress in place of Chris Kunitz who will miss the next two weeks with a "lower-body" injury.

I suppose the good news is that Geno is back, but the Pens still have six key guys on the shelf right now.

The other good news is that some of the injured players should be returning soon based on the timeframes given at the time of their injuries.

Tyler Kennedy (undisclosed) could come back any day now.
Kris Letang (shoulder contusion) was injured on Nov. 8 and is expected to miss two weeks.
Max Talbot (offseason shoulder surgery) has been cleared for contact in practice.
Sergei Gonchar suffered a broken wrist on Oct. 21 and was expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Brooks Orpik (lower-body) is expected to miss the next two weeks as well.

The Penguins still have eight games remaining in the month of November with only three of them coming against divisional foes. Those games happen to be the last three in the month and hopefully some of the injured guys are back in time for those important games.

For a preview of tonight's game Click Here.
For more information on the Kunitz injury Click Here

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Geno Not Ready? Letestu Recalled

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:18:56 GMT

Perhaps I spoke too soon? Maybe Evgeni Malkin isn't ready to play tonight against Boston. Maybe this is just an insurance move but the Penguins recalled forward Mark Letestu today. We'll find out in a couple hours as the Pens try and snap this pesky 4 game losing streak.

Here's the official release from the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled forward Mark Letestu from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

Letestu, 24, has been one of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top scoring threats with eight points (3G-5A), tying for fourth on the team despite missing five games this season.

Letestu has played the last two seasons in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He finished third on the team in scoring last season with 61 points on 24 goals and 37 assists in 73 contests. Letestu elevated his game in the AHL playoffs by finishing second on the team with 10 points (2G-8A) in 12 post-season games. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound forward signed with the Penguins in the spring of 2007 after completing his freshman season at Western Michigan. During his lone campaign in Western Michigan, Letestu posted 46 points on 24 goals and 22 assists in 37 games, and was named CCHA Rookie of the Year while ranking third in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in goals and seventh in points.

Conner Sent Down, Malkin Returning?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:05:41 GMT

The Pens sent forward Chris Conner back down to Wilkes-Barre today possibly signaling the return of Evgeni Malkin to the lineup. If that's the case, it couldn't come at a better time. I don't need to tell you the Pens need scoring and need it bad (1 goal in their last 3 games -- all losses), and a healthy Geno back in the lineup would surely help that. It would also help tremendously on the power play where right now Malkin, Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang are all out of the lineup.

We'll see at the morning skate tomorrow. For now, here's the official release from the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned forward Chris Conner to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

Conner, 23, recorded one assist in six games during his stint in Pittsburgh. At the time of his call up, the speedy winger was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s leading scorer with eight points (2G-6A) in seven games while taking a team-high 27 shots.

Orpik Dinged Up, Lovejoy Called Up

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:50:43 GMT

The path from Wilkes Barre to Pittsburgh is getting pretty worn. With the uncertainty surrounding Brooks Orpik's health -- he's deemed to have a "minor" injury according to the team -- the Pens called up Ben Lovejoy from the AHL. We thought we'd see Lovejoy here in Pittsburgh to start the season, but Martin Skoula's signing and the desire to get Lovejoy regular ice time put the kaibash on that. But this may be a good chance for the young blueliner to make an impression.

Here's the official release from the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled defenseman Ben Lovejoy from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero. Lovejoy, 25, led the entire AHL with a 42-plus rating last season to go with his 31 points (7G-24A), the most among the team’s defenseman, in 76 games with WBS. For his efforts, Lovejoy was not only named to the AHL PlanetUSA All-Star Team, but made his NHL debut by appearing in two games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In his first season with WBS in 2007-08, Lovejoy posted 20 points (2G-18A) and a plus-16 rating in 72 contests, and added 10 points (2G-8A) in 23 post-season games to help Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earn a berth in the Calder Cup Final. On the current campaign, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound blueliner has three points (2G-1A) and a plus-2 rating in seven games. In his first game of the season, Lovejoy scored the game-winning goal and was a plus-2 in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 6-4 victory over rival Hershey.

The Concord, NH native turned pro after playing three collegiate seasons with Dartmouth. Lovejoy finished his Big Green career with 54 points (11G-43A) in 96 games. In his senior campaign, he tallied a career high seven goals and 23 points, and was named second team All-Ivy and third team All-ECACHL (Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League).

Pens Lose, Olympic Thoughts

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:09:01 GMT

I'm afraid to ask how this could get worse at this point.

The Penguins hadn't scored in over four periods entering last night's game against Boston. Now you can make that seven-plus periods or for those keeping count 149 minutes and 9 seconds since Chris Kunitz scored against the Kings at 10:51 of the second period.

My biggest issue with this draught is that the Pens are still acting as if the injured guys are still on the ice. By that I mean they are still trying to make the extra pass instead of putting the puck on net and crashing.

I know that's not the typical Penguins' style, but at this point the status quo clearly isn't working with the current guys on the roster.

I even find myself saying this when the team is healthy, but how can you really criticize guys like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby when they put up 100+ points a season?

Speaking of health and injuries, chalk up another one for Pittsburgh.

Brooks Orpik took a hit last night very early in the first period and did not return. The injury appears to be a lower-body injury and he will be re-evaluated on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Recap
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Recap
Pens Fall To 11th In TSN.ca Power Rankings
Pens Rank 2nd In ESPN Power Rankings
Sparkle Market Good Juju Thread On Let's Go Pens - Worth a look.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

I highly dislike having NHL players in the Olympics. There's three reasons for this.

1) You will never see anything like what happened in Lake Placid in 1980 ever again. At least in the sport of hockey. Even if a team like Latvia somehow upset Canada in the gold medal game, it would be seen more as an embarrassment of Canada than a triumph for Latvia.

In my opinion, the Olympics should not include professionals in the major sports. The rest of the world has caught up to the United States in basketball and our "Dream Teams" aren't nearly as dominant as they used to be. How the world didn't protest with a boycott when the original Dream Team was entered into the competition is beyond me.

Anyway, let the amateurs play the game and you won't have either of my other two issues to deal with.

2) The schedule lends itself to more injuries. It's not a big stretch to think that playing three games in four nights consistently during the season, is causing this asinine amount of injuries around the league.

Hockey was never meant to be an every day sport. No one can convince me that football is a rougher game when those guys only play once a week. Don't get me wrong, I love football, but when each play lasts at most 5-8 seconds on average with 40 seconds or so between plays, the wear and tear can't be the same.

An average hockey shift should be anywhere from 35-50 seconds. Keep in mind that there's a rather solid wall encasing the playing surface that you can legally check people into. Grass is forgiving, the boards are not.

Then you could also take into consideration the amount of speed and force generated in an average hockey hit as compared to a hit in football. Players are moving faster on ice than on turf, end of story. I don't have the scientific facts on this, but I've played hockey for years and football recreationaly. I've never been hit harder than on the ice and I would prefer hits into the boards over open-ice hits.

The open-ice hit is far more violent than a tackle in football, even if Ryan Clark is teeing off on you.

Anyway, the point here is that the overall grind of playing a more violent game 3-4 times a week doesn't allow players adequate time to heal from the bumps and bruises they would get in non-Olympic years.

When you cram 82 games into a schedule with half of February taken out of the equation for the Olympics, the likelihood of injuries increases.

3) I'd love to watch some of the Olympic games with a couple of team officials just to see how much they hold their breath that one of their players doesn't get hurt.

I understand that playing for your country is a great honor. That's fine, but how awful would it be to see your team lose its star player prior to the playoff push while playing in the Olympics?

I'm guessing that general managers and coaches don't sleep for the duration of the Olympics and in some cases, probably root against the teams that their players are on.

I'm sure winning the gold medal means more in some other countries than it would here or in Canada, but when you're making millions of dollars to win the Stanley Cup, that has to come first.

Gary Bettman opened a Pandora's Box when he allowed NHL players to compete and now there's no going back. The only way things change now is if the IOC bans professionals from competing.

Something needs to change and the Pens need to get healthy. Fast.

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Letang To Miss 2 Weeks

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:02:35 GMT

Was that a large sigh of relief I just heard?

For some reason, I had a bad feeling that this was going to be something similar to Sergei Gonchar's injury last season that held him out until February.

Luckily for Kris Letang and the Penguins, it's just a shoulder contusion and he should be back on the ice in two weeks.

Side note: Just wanted to send get well soon wishes to Pens President Dave Morehouse, who suffered a heart attack on Sunday. I hope all is well and hope you have a speedy recovery.

The problem in the meantime is how do you replace five key components to the Stanley Cup Championship team for a couple weeks until Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Letang and hopefully Tyler Kennedy return?

This will be a big test for the Pens to see just how deep they are. It will also be a test of Dan Bylsma's system to see how it fares without some of the top line talent available.

The flip side of this is that the guys who are being inserted into the lineup have a chance to make a case for themselves. Martin Skoula has been about what I expected, but Chris Conner and Chris Bourque haven't exactly torn it up.

Conner only has one assist and four shots on goal in the four games he's played in this season, while Bourque also has just one assist in nine games with a minus-three rating and 11 shots on goal.

The Pens' secondary scoring was a major factor in the team's early success this season and that needs to pick back up again. As great a player as Sidney Crosby is, he can't do it all himself every night. That has been rather evident during his current four-game pointless streak.

When the rest of the team gets going, Sid becomes even more dangerous because he has time and space to create. The effort has been there from the top line of Sid, Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin, but they will be the first to admit that they have left some goals on the ice.

If there's a silver lining heading into tonight's game against the Boston Bruins, it's that Boston has had some scoring issues of their own of late.

Before netting four goals against the Sabres on Saturday night, the Bruins had only registered two goals in their previous five games. That stretch included three straight shutouts against the Oilers, Rangers and Red Wings.

The one reservation I have about this game is that while growing up in the Boston area, I've been to a few Pens/Bruins games in Boston. At last count, I believe my all-time record is somewhere in the ballpark of 1-7. That lone win came two years ago when the Pens eventually lost to the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the playoffs.

I love Boston fans in every other sport, but who throws beer cups at an 11-year-old boy? I'm sure it was funny for other observers, but having my little Jagr jersey smelling like Bud Light wasn't a highlight of my childhood.

There were other people who were trash talking me during my pre-teen years as well at the games. I would expect that kind of treatment now if I walked into the TD Bank North Garden presented by Fed Ex Kinkos and Motts Apple Juice or whatever they call that building these days. The name changes like the wind and seems to get longer and longer every time. Whatever happened to the name Fleet Center? Short and sweet doesn't pay I suppose.

Anyway, if the Pens don't get a win tonight my phone will ring off the hook from friends and family back home rubbing it in. It's OK though, during my lifetime the Pens have won three Stanley Cups and the Bruins haven't won a single one.

Advantage me. Advantage Penguins.

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