Penguins
-Ryan Whitney lousy at telling the future.
-Should Ray Shero be given a deadline to win the Stanley Cup?
-It didn't take Shero long to put the Penguins in a position to compete for the Cup.
-We probably should pust this under the Southeast Division but this is too good to bury. The Washington Post has a pretty frank Q&A translated from Russian with Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin. The Penguins-related nuggets include:
- His disdain for comparisons to Sidney Crosby and now Evgeni Malkin (right).
- Saying Malkin "was wrong in acting like he did." What Malkin was wrong about isn't exactly clear.
- Admitting he got into a fight with Malkin's agent.
- Shrugging off a "who would win a fight" scenario with Malkin and himself.
- Calling Senators forward and former Penguin Jarkko Ruutu a "rat."
(Kudos to EN co-worker Anya Sostek for the heads up.)
-Lightning forward Vincent Lecavalier explained his non-fight with Matt Cooke last week.
-Larry Brooks of the New York Post thinks the NHL is making a mistake marketing Sidney Crosby more than Alex Ovechkin.
-The Hockey News apparently doesn't subscribe to the New York Post and ranked Crosby the most influential person in hockey.
-The Pensblog examines a few things, including a comparison of the first 38 games of the Penguins' current season to the first 38 games of 2007-08.
-Penguins Experience compares "The Next One," Sidney Crosby, to the next "Next One," John Tavares.
-Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau beat out Sidney Crosby for the Lionel Conacher Award which goes to Canada's athlete of the year. Fire Ray Shero.
-The Penguins are good people:
-Mark Letestu had a goal and three assists for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 6-3 defeat of the Binghamton Senators. Ryan Stone and Bill Thomas each had a goal and an assist for the Penguins.
-If Letestu, Thomas and others can keep it up, the AHL Penguins could be really dangerous.
-It was Letestu's turn to step up yesterday.
-Semi-random YouTube Find of the Day: Tux, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins mascot getting jiggy with it:
-Kudos to Going Five Hole for the find.
-Despite dressing a lineup with only 15 players (including goaltenders), Andrew Lord's shootout goal gave the Wheeling Nailers a 3-2 win at Dayton. Curtis Darling made 52 saves in the win.
Atlantic Division
-The Flyers demoted defenseman Ryan Parent to their puppy-drowning AHL affiliate. Parent has not played a game this season due to a shoulder injury.
-Don't look now, but the Devils are closing in on first place in the division.
-Larry Brooks is also lobbying to bring back Sean Avery to the Rangers. Because it's not like they're in first place or anything.
-Brendan Witt's mouth has led to an improvement in the Islanders' defense.
Northeast Division
-Boston just keeps rolling along. Manny Fernandez made 32 saves for the Bruins who claimed their eighth consecutive victory in a 2-1 win at Atlanta.
-Soccer balls hate the eyes of Maple Leafs forward Matt Stajan.
-Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau is frustrated with injured forward and former Penguins goon Georges Laraque.
-The Canadiens' top line of Andrei Kostitsyn, Alex Kovalev and Thomas Plekanec came to life against the Penguins.
-The Sabres demoted forward Tim Kennedy to Portland of the AHL.
Southeast Division
-Brooks Laich and Alex Ovechkin each had two goals and two assists for the Capitals in a 4-1 defeat of the Maple Leafs. Teammates Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green each added two assists.
-The Capitals honored former forward Mike Gartner with possibly the first jersey retirement involving an image of a porn 'stache (right) .
-Washington demoted defenseman Tyler Sloan to Hershey of the AHL.
-Thrashers prospect and former Penguins draft pick Angelo Esposito has grown up. Fire Ray Shero.
-Panthers forward Kamil Kreps is dealing with a shoulder injury.
-Stop us if this sounds familiar; The Lightning is having issues on the power play.
-Tampa Bay forward Evgeny Artyukhin is starting to show some promise.
(Photos: Crosby and Malkin-David Duprey/Associated Press; Gartner-Nick Wass/Associated Press)
Posted
Dec 29 2008, 06:02 AM
by
Seth Rorabaugh