Pens Points: Bruins Sweep Pens for the Season

Good morning one and all,

Well that game last night was not fun. The Pens didn't play terribly, but made enough stupid mistakes and paid dearly for them. Flower was good in net, except he too often tried to be the extra skater.

Also, the Bruins seem to read these Penguins like an open book. Sullivan's uptempo style is fun, but if a team is patient, it will eventually expose and exploit the flaws. [Trib]

This was probably the most telling read for me in regards to last night. Crosby can recite the "score doesn't reflect the game" thing all he wants, but he's deluding himself if he doesn't think being outscored 14-3 in 3 games isn't an issue. [Trib]

The good news is that cavalry is on the way. Geno Machino and Nick Bonino will be back on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets. Can't come a day too soon. [PPG]

A nice article on Conor Sheary, the little guy who was often cut from teams for being too short and skinny, but who somehow ended up an NHL player. [Telegram]

Scott Burnside looks at the best and worst trades over the past five NHL seasons. [ESPN]

There is another fire sale in Canada, this time out west, as Vancouver Canucks have helpfully shared a list of available players with the other teams in the league. Linden Vey, Matt Bartkowski, Ronalds Kenins, Adam Cracknell, Chris Higgins, Brandon Prust Yannick Weber. No word on Dan Hamhuis. [TSN]

Rentals are one thing, but teams will always like to add players with term on their contract: Yakupov, Schultz, Hendricks, Pirri, Eller, Backlund, Holland, Hartnell, Hansen, and Hanzalare the likely non-rentals to be moved. [TSN]

One player who probably won't get traded is the one who desperately wants to be traded for family reasons: the Isles Travis Hamonic has been on the market since November and no deal looks to be in the works. [TSN]

Jonathan Drouin will be on the move by the deadline as Steve Yzerman really wants this festering situation to be over and done with. [Tampa Tribune]

Drug charges against Mike Richards were stayed and are uinlikely to be continued. He looks to be off the hook. [ESPN]

Ryan Reaves was suspended three games. Three games. What a joke this league is. [NHL]

Alexander Wennberg is a good young center in Columbus whose name doesn't yet resonate with hockey fans but it probably will, and soon. [Blue Jackets]

Joni Pitkanen's comeback has ended after only 3 games, as his foot has continued to bother him and it is now likely he is done for good. That's too bad. [Yahoo Sports]

After being scratched for an away game 2 of the first-round playoff series for poor performance and sent away to train separately from the team, Ilya Kovalchuk was stripped of SKA captaincy and scratched for the upcoming two home games. He who doesn't take Sergei Zubov seriously does so at his peril. [NBC Sports]