Pens Points: Lovejoy and Despres see old friends

Ben Lovejoy is ready for a homecoming. The last few days must have seemed like a whirlwind. [Post-Gazette]

Lovejoy has been impressed by Derrick Pouliot. Join the line, Ben! [PG- Notebook]

And the same Pouliot/Lovejoy story, different writer. [Tribune Review- Yohe]

Road trip is about to get really tough. [Trib]

Dejan reports that the Pens were comfortable with trading Simon Despres because they didn't like his attitude and habits to improve off the ice. [DK on Sports $]

One more point-less game and Sidney Crosby sets a personal record of the bad kind. [PG]

Looking at proper usage for the Pens bottom six to put them in the best position to succeed. I would go Winnik-Sutter-Bennett ; Spaling-Lapierre-Downie but that's just me, and I could also see how a line with Sutter/Bennett would get pushed around too much along the boards. [Hockey Buzz]

Kyle Okposo is re-joining the Islanders soon for practices as he gets back on track to return from a detached retina. [Lighthouse Hockey]

The Flyers salary cap situation: still very bad. [Broad Street Hockey]

Speaking of salary cap, the Boston Bruins re-signed Torey Krug (1 year, $3.4 million) and Reilly Smith (2 years, $3.425 million per year). Those raises will probably further push vets out the door for next season, but hey, gotta pay the young guys who are big parts of the team. [TSN]

Rangers fans have reached the "acceptance" stage for the Keith Yandle trade. [Blueshirt Banter]

Some Penguins fans, not so much with Pittsburgh's deadline moves. [Pens Initiative]

A 27 year old career minor leagues Andrew Hammond (who?) is 6-0-1 with a .957 save % and pulling the Ottawa Senators back to the tail end of the playoff race. No word on if his nickname is "Moose" or not. [NHL.com]

Even though, in reality, Ottawa's playoff chances are very low. Down Goes Brown looks at the whole league's playoff bubble. [Grantland]

A case that Jaromir Jagr is the 3rd best forward in NHL history, behind Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. [NHL.com]

Showing up a referee in his face is a good way to find your way to the penalty box, as Marcus Johansson recently found out. Notorious former ref Kerry Frasier weighs in with his take. [TSN]

Former NHL'er Linus Omark tried to pull something like "the Michigan" over in the KHL, IN THE PLAYOFFS, and the other team barely blinked at him. Good thing he didn't try that in North America or they would still be scraping him off of the ice. [TSN- Bar Down]

Kimmo Timonen is going to hang up the skates for good after this season, which isn't surprising given his age and medical history, but it's nice that he at least gets one more chance to go out on his own terms. [Second City Hockey]