Pittsburgh Penguins news and notes

It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh! The Pittsburgh Penguins are coming off back to back wins against the Phildelphia Flyers and New York Islanders. The Penguins are now 3-3. Brent Johnson started both games and is now 3-0 on the season. Compared to the struggling Marc-Andre Fleury who is the complete opposite 0-3 on the year. Of course, in Pittsburgh, the backup goalie and quarterback are always fan-favorites due to the lack of intelligence from fans. Besides one bad goal, Fleury hasn't been as bad as some would believe you to think. The Pens have turned the puck over much more with Fleury in net and have given up way more scoring chances. Johnson is playing well but the overall effort of the team has been much better with Johnson in net.

Fleury is struggling but still has a pedigree and a Stanley Cup. Fleury's in a slump and will get out of it and help this team compete for a Cup again this year. However, Brent Johnson is certainly a good back and should start 20-25 games this year.
Here are some very interesting articles about Marc-Andre Fleury: Allison Myers on Bleacher Report
Here are two different articles written my Mark Madden. 1st  2nd

As for the game tonight, the Pens take on the much hated Ottawa Senators. The Sens come in to town featuring a couple former Pens on their team, Sergei Gonchar and Jarco Ruutu. The big question is what kind of reaction Gonchar is going to get. I expect a cheer for Gonchar before the game but would not be surprised if he receives some boo's during the game while handling the puck. I think Pens fans should thank him for what he did for the team while he was here. Gonchar was a tremendous quarterback for the power-play and helped the Pens win the Stanley Cup. However, he is now the enemy and his time here is over.

Not that the Pens miss Gonchar that much. In 4 games with the Senators, Gonchar has 1 point and is a minus -2. The Pens have replaced Gonchar on the power-play with young defenseman Alex Gologoski, who is proving all of his critics wrong this year. Gologoski has registered a point in every game this year, and is tied for the team lead in points with Paul Martin and Sidney Crosby.

Speaking of Paul Martin, how big of a pickup is this guy. Tremendous two-way player who was handcuffed in New Jersey by their defensive system. Martin is an all-star caliber defensemen who I think will be huge in the success of this team this year.

Rookie Mark Letsestu sure keeps proving his doubters wrong. He's been playing really good hockey and I'm now confident that he can be the full-time 3rd line center when Jordan Staal makes his return.

As for the game tonight, face-off is at 7pm. The Pens starting lineup looks like this

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Tangradi-Comrie-Malkin
Cooke-Talbot-Kennedy
Rupp-Letestu/Adams-Godard

Martin-Letang
Goligoski-Lovejoy
Engelland-Hutchinson

for more information click here

Let's go Pens!

Here are some highlights from the last two games: