HAT's what it's all about! Malkin, Crosby power Pens to 4-2 win over Atlanta

Those guys don’t get enough credit.

Actually, name a Penguin who isn’t a good PK personnel… I think almost all of the guys would be on the first PK unit of any team in this NHL.

Sidney Crosby is a great penalty killer.

Agreed. I just love Sid’s attitude when it comes to this. As the team’s primary offensive threat & captain, he can decide he doesn’t want to waste energy playing on the PK & just concentrate on the offense. Him doing the little things like forechecking like a beast, winning FOs, defending, blocking shots & killing penalties, it just sets a really good example for the rest of the team to follow.

Plus, I actually think he likes the mentality of playing on the PK. He has a natural aptitude. It will be interesting to see how the PK minutes shape up when Staalsy gets back & up to speed.

Nice thoughts Allie…Something tells me you got a head start on them before this was posted :)

Sidney Crosby is a great penalty killer. I’m just in limbo about whether or not I want to see the Pens give him like a minute a game. Seems like the Pens are too, but every time they let him stay out there he looks great.

I share that thought. While he can be good there, PK’ing is tough minutes that tire, plus you always run the risk of getting hit by a shot that breaks something (I always remember Datsyuk breaking a foot PK’ing vs. Chicago in the ’09 playoffs that really hurt them in the SCF).

Given how good Sid (usually) is at faceoffs, it makes sense to put him out there for some draws, hopefully he wins them, Pens take possession and kill some time off it. That makes it worth it, especially while the best PK’er on the team remains on the shelf.

But you always have to be a little concerned that he’s spending minutes working on a unit that doesn’t generate offense a lot and does put him in a more exposed injury position.

A lot of great material tonight allie!

I really wouldn’t consider the second atl goal a soft one for the sole reason that there shouldn’t be an unmarked man right in front of the net. Especially one who is a penguin killer.

I am very excited that once the penguins seized the momentum which started on the shift of the goal that was called back due to goalie interference that they kept going. Attack attack attack from that point on.

Regarding the second line…as i mentioned in the thread…Asham has a wicked right handed shot and is a very very good passer. He has had some beauties already this year. So you have to respect the both of them as a defender and if malkin and asham are coming down the same wing and you are the only defender there…then you have to respect both…I am in no way saying that asham is the same as malkin but you have to make a split second decision which is a huge benefit to us. Flyers fans felt awful when they lost asham…to me he was going to be a very effective player but the injury caused him to have a little of a slower learning curve once he came back from the injury…but now…wow, he belongs on that line. The reason cooke fits is because asham isn’t as solid on d and let’s face it….even though geno gets a ton of takeaways….he does tend to have an occasional defensive lapse. Cooke makes up for that.

Crosby…well…all I can say is that he showed why he isnthe captain of this team on the empty netter. He put every ounce of energy in gettingnthat puck to geno to reward him for the night he put up. There was sheer determination that his attempt would not be denied. I know he had a huge goal….but that was a huge character play.

MAF…i don’t know…i still feel like he had to do a lot on his own…i know we differed last night on to what extent we felt he was challenged…i just feel that there are still way too many giveawaysnin bad sections of the ice. I really do believe that he is baaaaack. I was listening to a broadcast this morning and they said how his confidence had been down…on here we all argued that he has always has come back….i started to think about that…i really believe that this was the first time since the ahl days that he really didnt know when he would be playing…in big games/playoff games, sure, he is the goalie, he had a bad night but he will be back next game…this time he had no clue and i really think that affected his mental preparation and confidence. I am so happy he is returning to form.

My only negative…this defense is starting to click and i really like gogo and tanger but both of them being offensive minded defensemen have to do a better job at recognizing that not every outlet needs to be rushed up the ice. Both of them have given up some easy ones to the opponent lately and have left our goalies exposed.

Finally, i really think we all need to realize how hard our schedule has been so far…Flyers (3), blues, preds, lightning (2), stars – we have been playing a lot of tough teams early on…i may have missed some in there but this wasn’t an easy run so far. Now we have a 4 point game against the rangers coming up as we dive deeper into divison play. This is the right time to start clicking.

PS – Comrie better wake up when he gets back because he may be on borrowed time. I know he is a deal at 500k but with a ton of guys playing better…how do you move anyone?

PPS – Talbot is on the ice tonight with an ugly gash and plays almost every shift once he got stitched…makes me laught at brett favre laying on a golf cart in the field position being held in a trainers arms to he can go and get a few stitches on his chinny chin chin. My wife says “well, he’s old” to which i say then he shouldn’t be such a baby. hockey players are the toughest sob’s in sport.

That made me happy, too. Hopefully we’ll see that they’re back for good next week.

you don’t question it. You just wonder who’d you put next to them. Cookie works but it doesn’t feel altogether right. Plus where’s Staal gonna go?

say hey to me!

I think Martin looked better last night. Z….well, let’s teach him how to not screen his own goalie first.

I agree with you that Letang’s been pretty good this season. For me, part of the fun of watching the Penguins for the past few years has been watching how several young players grow up. I’m liking what Letang is growing up to be.

And…he’s 1st in points for D-men. I predicted this lol, I predicted a big year.

Engelland lost his job temporarily, but Lovejoy gave it back to him. In his first game back, Engo only played 8 min, then last night, he played 16, wouldn’t be surprised to see him get more.
I love watching this guy play.

and Geno

It’s a good thing we didn’t send him back to junior or anything.

Indeed. It’s nice to finally get a winning streak going (albeit two games). It would be great to get some more wins at CONSOL to make our home a tougher place to play and a win tomorrow is a big step in the right direction.

I just noticed your last reply from my comment back during the Toronto game eons ago, haha. I haven’t been visiting Pensburgh a whole lot as of late. I’ve always frequented the Pensblog a lot more. Nothing against this site, there’s a lot of knowledgable fans here and some great writers. That’s just my go-to site for Pens stuff.

haha that’s funny :D

Who does iPenguin67 like in tomorrow night’s game? I need to set my Extra Attacker roster and after a week where Adams and Duper cost me a minus 40 in a couple of games, I could really use some helpful hints.