Pens Points Saturday: Back to Back in Alberta

After a warm welcome to Edmonton by fans and media, and following a sloppy third period that cost them a point in an OT loss, the Pens will try to erase the bitter taste of failure in the second game of a back-to-back in Alberta.

Check out Hooks's recap of last night's game. For another rational view of what went wrong after two very decent periods against a talent-laden, underachieving and thus desperate team, here is Seth Rorabaugh's recap and take-home notes.

No, the sky isn't falling, but as a rule things will not end well for a team that doesn't play a complete 60 minutes on both ends of the ice. Talent will only get you so far, as Edmonton knows perhaps better than any current team.

Anyway, I'm sure Dan Bylsma and his staff will take measures to ensure the right lessons are learned and tonight's game in Calgary is played with the correct mindset and focus. Veterans like Rob Scuderi had strong words after the game last night, and this is exactly why he was brought back to Pittsburgh, to lead by words as well as example.

More in-game and post-game videos and thoughts from players and coaches are all accounted for in this morning's Empty Netters.

Defenseman-as-forward experiment has been tried many times, most recently reasonably successfully with Deryk Engelland. It seems that over in Winnipeg desperate times call for desperate measures, as Dustin Byfuglien is being moved to forward and will skate on a line with Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little.

It's time for a summit. A summit on whether to trade Kris Letang. Penguins mega-round table explores this very topic in theory, although I don't think it is realistic to happen in practice. And look, they're not the only ones trading him - over at HockeyBuzz he's being swapped straight up for Jordan Eberle. Ubi fumus, ibi ignis?

Personally I had fun reading the roundtable transcript during a tedious Sixers game last night that was so bad that when my phone battery gave up life I moved to studying the McDonald's promotional coupon book I received at the entrance. But hey, at least I met Marion Bartoli, who's the coolest girl ever.

That's all folks. I'll probably miss the first half of the game for a date with Tchaikovsky at the Philadelphia Orchestra, but should swoop in just on time to see Mike Cammalleri score, as he usually does against the Pens. We should acquire him for that reason alone. He might even be available if the price is right. Check out the preview of tonight's game, and let's go Pens!