Pens Points: A Time To Heal

Good morning black and yellow gang,

Despite the OT loss in New York, the Pens played a good road game. There were a few mishaps on D and a couple bad bounces, but all in all a point is a point. Back in first place. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Add Olli Maatta to the pile of injured players. He stayed behind in Pittsburgh for evaluation of an injury sustained in Saturday's game against Ottawa. [Trib - Mackey]

Absences on the blue line wee evident in the loss to the Rangers. Dumoulin had a rough outing with Martin, and that's putting it nicely. Without Letang, the PP is sputtering. [Trib]

Besides doing absolutely nothing useful yet again, Zach Sill nearly chopped off Kevin Klein's ear. Literally. The guy needed many stitches to reattach a part of his ear, then came back and figured in on the OT winner. [CBS Sports]

While not a mainstream statistic, special teams success is a reliable barometer of overall team success, with teams striving to achieve magic number of 105% (PP + PK percentages). The Pens currently top the NHL at nearly 115%. [Sporting Charts]

Just 18 months after winning Jack Adams award as the top coach in the NHL, Paul MacLean was fired by the Ottawa Senators. What spelled doom for him? [Yahoo Sports Canada]

Former Sens assistant coach Dave Cameron, who coached at the OHL for 10 years, was named MacLean's replacement, without the interim tag. [OHL]

Last night Jaromir Jagr became the 15th player in NHL history to play 1500 games [The Score]

Six NHL players who are exceeding expectations. A lone Penguin is on this list. [For The Win]

Could Las Vegas handle an expansion team? An excellent piece by ESPN's Scott Burnside examines whether it's worth a gamble. [ESPN]

After the first day of NHL BoG meetings in Boca Raton, Gary Bettman said the league will explore the Vegas option via a season ticket test drive. What does it all mean? [Yahoo Sports Canada]

David Backes gets a slapshot in the mouth, comes back to play. Ho-hum. [The Hockey News]

Martin Brodeur wins game #690. Fleury's gonna have to play till he's 55 to catch that. [NHL.com]

Another suspension, this time to Evander Kane, who gets to sit two games for boarding Clayton Stoner. [NHL.com]

Some advanced stats for the connoisseurs. Possession metrics aren't everything ... unless you're a defenseman. [Own The Puck]

Ed Snider thinks playoffs are "definitely still possible" for the Flyers. So do we. This is the one year we all hope the Flyers make the playoffs. [Pro Hockey Talk]