Penguins Blog

The Penguins practiced today at 11am at Mellon Arena, but I'm afraid I've got the day off today so can't give you much. SO....so we're limited to links today, but I'll be at tomorrow's gameday skate and will bring you the latest on the Pens game against the Islanders then.

The Pens remained at 9 in TSN's Power Rankings, moved up to 9 in ESPN's.

Mark Letestu was just sent back down to the minors, but it sure sounds like he had a good time in the bigs.

There was some incredible symmetry going on Sunday. While the Pens blew a 2-0 first period lead, and a 3-goal lead to lose 5-4 to the Capitals thanks to a hat trick from an opposing player, the Baby Pens blew a 2-0 first period lead, and a 3-goal lead to lose 5-4 to the Hershey Bears, the Caps AHL affiliate thanks to a hat trick from an opposing player. Anyone else find that depressingly incredible? What's more depressing is that while the Capitals have won 14 in a row, the Bears have won 22-of-23, and 6 straight overall against the Baby Pens. Ouch.

The NHL will open the season in Europe again this year with 6 teams getting their passports stamped.

Scott Burnside looks at the oft-overlooked 1960 U.S. gold-medal winning hockey team.

Big news of the day is Bob Gainey's decision to step down as GM of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs are 6th right now in the Eastern Conference, 8 points behind Ottawa in 5th.

As for the Pens, not much going on today as they look to recover from their rough weekend. Mark Letestu was sent back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton which may be more a fiscal move than any indication of health. Rob Rossi had some really helpful info last week on the real reason for the constant call-ups:

Something to keep in mind about the salary cap: The Penguins must save as much money on a daily basis now as possible — another reason for the up-and-down ways of their AHL players — because upon the return from the Olympic break they will play what feels like an every-other-day schedule until the playoffs. Their Olympians that figure to see a lot of ice-time in Vancouver  — Cs Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Ds Sergei Gonchar and Brooks Orpik — may need a blow for games in the final six weeks of the NHL season; the Penguins cannot waste money against the cap now and risk not having the call-up option for March-April.

Speaking of Mr. Rossi, he for one was not too impressed (and pretty fired up) with NBC/NHL's decision to NOT postpone yesterdays game, especially given the loss of Brendan Burke 2 nights earlier.

Yahoo!'s Puck Daddy asks what did we learn from yesterday's Pens-Caps game?

Ray Ferraro compares the Capitals to the pre-dynasty Oilers (?!?!). Chicken Parm does give Sid some love but only in relation to playing against Ovechkin.

It looked like the horrid travel conditions the Penguins had to endure to get to Washington D.C. finally caught up with them in the third period and overtime today against the Capitals, as Washington scored 4 straight goals in those frames to notch a 5-4 OT win, their 14th straight victory.

This will surely not sit well with the Penguins, and it was apparent afterwards as Brooks Orpik was none too pleased with Alexander Semin for embellishing a high stick that led to the game winning power play, calling him, "a baby."

We're all looking forward to the Olympics... it's just too bad it gets in the way of the next showdown against Washington which is set for Wednesday, March 24 in our nation's capital.

The minor league call-ups currently on the Pens roster right now will feel right at home tonight as the team is flying from Montreal to Newark, NJ and the hopping on a bus to take them down to D.C. for tomorrow's noon showdown against the Capitals. This is from Rob Rossi's Tweeting.

Coming off today's loss to Montreal this can't be a welcomed way to travel, although we remember last year's train ride from Philly to Washington that the players seemed to get a kick out of. Of course, you can actually, you know, get up and walk around on a train. And it didn't follow a flight, which followed a game, which happened to be a loss. All of these are mounting up as excuses the team can use for a less-than-stellar showing tomorrow. Let's hope they don't use any of them. The Capitals are looking for their 14th straight win, which would be the longest since the Pens won 14 in a row en route to 17 straight back in 92-93.

Other teams to win 14 or more:

17 Games-Pittsburgh Penguins, 1993
15 Games-New York Islanders, 1982
14 Games-Boston Bruins, 1929-30

The Penguins are in Montreal for this afternoon's game against the Canadiens -- where they'll be headed next is still up in the air. With Washington D.C. getting slammed by more than 2 feet of snow, there's doubt as to when and how the Pens would get there for Sunday afternoon's game against the Capitals.

I spoke with Rob Rossi of the Trib who has been in contact with the NHL, and they have no idea how they're going to handle this. There has been talk of flying into Andrew's Air Force Base which is just outside the Beltway in Maryland, about 10 miles from the Arena, but that's just a small possibility. Postponement is the likeliest. The Penguins don't play again until Wednesday at home. Same with the Capitals who are in Montreal that same night. The building is free Monday and Tuesday before Disney on Ice comes into the Verizon Center for a week of shows, so look for Monday or Tuesday.

Yet another factor is NBC. This is a nighly anticipated afternoon matchup that NBC wants to get on the air. Would they help in making sure the game happens on time?

All questions unanswered at this point. So we wait.... and shovel.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled forwards Mark Letestu and Tim Wallace from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.

Letestu, who turned 25 years old Thursday, has made five appearances for Pittsburgh this year. He made his NHL debut in the Penguins’ 6-5 overtime win against Boston Nov. 14, and recorded his first career NHL goal (and point) in Pittsburgh’s 5-4 victory over Buffalo Monday night.

Despite playing only 37 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this year, Letestu (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) ranks second on the team in goals (16), assists (24) and points (40). The Elk Point, Alberta native paces the team with a plus-11 rating.

Wallace, 25, has spent the entire season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 47 games he has posted 14 goals and 21 points. Wallace (6-foot-1, 207 pounds) made his NHL debut last season, playing 16 games for Pittsburgh and recording two assists.

The Anchorage, Alaska native joined WBS in 2006 after playing four collegiate seasons at Notre Dame. Wallace is the Irish’s all-time “iron man” after not missing a game in four years (153 games). Wallace also played two years with the U.S. National Team Development Program from 2000-02, and won a gold medal with the U.S. at the 2000 Under-18 World Championships.

Because of the impending snowstorm, our cameras were diverted to salt reserves and local highways and bi-ways, so we couldn't get video today of Penguins practice. BUT, we can tell you injuries continue to be a problem at 1 Mario Lemieux Drive. Chris Kunitz is still coming back from his double-abdominal tear surgery and is still not a lock to get back in the lineup tomorrow or Sunday. And we can tell you Max Talbot has already been ruled out of this weekend's action in Montreal and Washington (assuming said snow doesn't put the old kaibosh on the who affair).

And for those of you excited about the CAKE baking (see here) stay tuned. Its debut has been pushed back to next week, so get ready for that.

It's official. Ilya Kovalchuk, the Thrashers captain and all-time leading scorer has been traded tonight to the Atlantic Division leading New Jersey Devils. Bad news for the Penguins who trail New Jersey by a point with the Devils holding 2 games in hand.

Much like the Marian Hossa deal, the Thrashers didn't exactly clean up in this deal. They receive defenseman Johnny Oduya, rookie Nicklas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier and a first round draft pick in the 2010 entry draft.

This is a great move for the Devils who have had severe trouble scoring goals this year, currently ranked 10th in the conference with just 146 on the season. Kovalchuk is one of the most dangerous snipers in the NHL, with 31 goals, 27 assists this year. Previous 5 seasons in goals: 41, 52, 42, 52, 43. Dude can score.

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We'll officially be kicking this off tomorrow night on TV, but there's no time to waste -- the first shot has been fired and it's time for Pittsburgh Penguins fans to respond. We found this posting on a Washington Post blog that featured a birthday cake adorned with Alex Ovechkin beating up Sidney Crosby.

SO NOW THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO RESPOND!

We're looking for your own cake -- Pro-Penguins, Anti-Capitals, even anti-Flyers. Bake a cake, take a picture, and send it to us here.

Rules: Keep is classy. Nothing offensive will be accepted.

Creativity is encouraged. As is use of historical figures in Penguins history.

Depending on the response, we may feature you and your cake on KDKA-TV news and/or The Subway Nightly Sports Call.

If there is enough of a response, cakes will be judged by Penguins players themselves!

So let's get baking! Good luck!

The Penguins just sent out a release announcing there will be no practice Thursday, giving the players their second day off in 3 days. They'll be back on the ice on Friday morning at Mellon Arena. We'll still have some links in the morning including more on Sidney Crosby's SI cover, which you can see here.

While you're there, you can check out this piece on (what else?) the rivalry between Sid and Alex Ovechkin.