Pens Points: Murderers Row Awaits

Good morning one and all,

A very rough stretch of 4 games in 6 days awaits the Pens. They will face Islanders, Rangers, Flyers and Blackhawks. How many points in those 4 games are we hoping for? Discuss.

The Islanders for their part are developing some serious swagger and are coming off the first shutout of the Rangers at MSG in 40 years. Their off-season moves were on the money. [PPG]

Rookies are often subject to pranks, cool or cruel ones. Bryan Rust learned that the hard way as he stepped onto the ice for practice on Wednesday, only to see all his street clothes hanging from the Consol rafters. [Penguins.com]

After the practice was over, Rust kind of needed his street clothes, because it was time to drive back to Wilkes-Barre with Taylor Chorney, given that the acquisition of Mark Arcobello made for a crowded forward corps. [PPG]

Ryan Sutter was suspended the expected two games for the elbow to the head of Steve Downie. [PPG]

Thankfully Steve Downie was well enough to practice with the team yesterday, but his status for Friday's game is still unclear. [Penguins.com]

Mark Arcobello's journey led him to his third team in three weeks. He seemed excited to join the Penguins and play alongside some famous names. [Penguins.com]

Nick Spalling, while not the world's greatest Corsican, has at least been a useful and productive player on any line he's been on thus far. [Trib]

Olli Maatta underwent his second shoulder and third overall surgery in a span of 7 months and will be out of commission for the next 6 months. Poor kid. Imagine waiting till September to be in training camp again. [PPG]

On to some other NHL news. Nick Foligno and Jonathan Toews were named captains for the All Star game. Big yawn. [USA Today]

The Minnesota Wild's grand plan to fix their goaltending woes started yesterday as they acquired Devan Dubnyk, now on his fifth team in two seasons. He looks to start tonight against the Sabres. [Star Tribune]

The Bruins face a tough decision on torrid rookie David Pastrnak after he plays his ninth game tonight against the New York Rangers. [USA Today]

Pekka Rinne is out day-to-day with a lower body injury. Losing him would seriously hurt the Nashville Predators chances to be a serious challenger in the division and conference. [The Hockey News]

We end with today's highly recommended read about the Ivy Leaguer who fought his way to the NHL. Nate Scott's fantastic story of Bobby Farnham. [USA Today]