Pens Points: The Longest Break Ever

This is kind of a long layoff. By tomorrow night that PK should be crisp on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside.

What's going on with the Pens? Let's see. Monday was the annual Pens & Paws calendar photoshoot, so that was fun.

Sam Kasan from Penguins.com breaks down a power play that is fun to dissect.

At my job a perk is the coffee machine and every once in a while some bagels. For Patric Hornqvist a perk of his job is playing with Sidney Crosby. Life, it ain't fair.

Mike Johnston is making an effort to keep those shifts short. This seems to be a trend, we can remember what we saw at the Olympics with Mike Babcock rolling 4 lines consistently and quickly in an effort to wear down the other team.

The eventual return of Robert Bortuzzo from injury is going to shake up the Pens blueline.

Jesse Marshall from the Pensblog breaks down the mechanics of the Penguins system.

The Pens were idle but our tomorrow's opponent, the Dallas Stars, weren't. Tyler Seguin had a regular hat trick and his liney Jamie Benn posted 4 points and a Gordie Howe hat trick. A great article by Nick Cotsonika about the Benn and Seguin and the fun things they are doing together.

Simon Gagne is a Bruin, having signed a 1-year, $600K contract. I was chatting with a dad wearing Flyers gear from head to toe at the pediatrician's office yesterday, and he went "Enough with the Penguins, Crosby's got enough, and don't get me started on the Bruins, haven't they had enough?!" Told him about the Gagne signing, and he said he was one of his all-time favorites. Everyone loves Gags around these parts.

Struggle times for the Edmonton Oilers, who took their medicine last night in the form of a 6-1 whitewashing by the Kings. Do you think Connor McDavid ever gets nightmares and tosses and turns at night saying "Edmonton....Buffalo....Calgary...Florida...noooooo!!!"

Ol Phil Kessel scored a sweet OT goal last night too.

Meet the other Crosby: Sid's baby sister Taylor is a hockey player in her own right. A truly outstanding, in-depth profile and interview of Northeastern University's freshman goalie by Blueshirt Banter's very own Evan Sporer.

If you're a Rangers blogger it's a lot more fun these days to write about the Crosbys than about Henrik Lundqvist, amirite? Back-to-back 6-goal outings for King Henrik and destruction at the hands of the Islanders.

And finally, it's always fun to get a laugh at the Flyers' expense, so guess who is the worst NHL team in shootout history??? Spoiler alert, get your Nelson Muntz "HA-HA" laugh ready...