A national television audience watched a tightly-checked, structurally-sound rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup final Sunday afternoon.  Although the game was low scoring, several opportune scoring chances presented themselves for both teams, including some stellar near-misses for red-light strapped Jordan Staal in the third.
When all was said and done, the Stanley Cup holding Penguins prevailed once again over Motor City’s Red Wings, this time in a shoot-out, 2-1.  Sidney Crosby’s slick cross-over to the backhand in the second period and a patient back-hand flip that tipped the water bottle in the shoot-out delighted the Igloo’s capacity crowd and earned the [...]

It’s been a wild week-plus for Pens’ fans. In the span of 10 days, the team we all love will have faced off against three of the teams most of us dislike the most – Philadelphia, Washington and Detroit. So much disdain, so little time. The question is, who is the Pens’ biggest (or most bitter) rival?
Is it our cross-state division foe? Is it the current team-to-beat in the Eastern Conference? Or is it the squad we’ve played the past two years for the Cup? Let’s take a closer look.
FLYERS
We’ve played Philly a ton over the past couple years – eight times during the regular [...]

A valued reader of the Labyrinth sent in the picture above stating that words can’t properly describe Billy G’s mustache.
Well, Penguin fans…time to put on your creative caps and come up with a way to describe the ‘piller that has taken roost on Guerin’s upper-lip.
Your challenge is to come up with a name for the ’stache. 
Let the games begin…
From IronCity: El Senor Gusano (insert tilde, english translation: Mr. Caterpiller)

Funny thing about last night’s game. When Evgeni Malkin roofed a wrist shot just 1:34 in, I thought to myself, “This is a good start. Might be another easy win against Ottawa.” Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Hey, I never said I was smart.
Ottawa continued its torrid hot streak, beating the Pens 4-1 to win a franchise-record eighth straight. The Sens have allowed only eight goals over that stretch. I have no clue what sparked this turnaround (they lost five in a row prior to this streak), but it looks like Ottawa is a team to be reckoned with [...]

Matt Cooke’s power-play goal against the Flyers last week not only won the game, it was a reminder to all that hard work pays off.
You see, that’s what Cooke brings to the table. Hard work … and plenty of it. He’s one of those guys that never takes a shift off. He’s relentless on the forecheck and the backcheck. He hits – a lot. He agitates – a ton. He’s the guy you love when he’s wearing black and gold, and despise when he’s on the other side.
But the man has skill, and he’s been showing it since he joined [...]

The Pens return home Thursday night looking to extend their winning streak to three games.  Their opponent?  The one I saw in person around Christmas time, the Ottawa Senators, who will invade the Igloo looking to avenge that 8-2 thrashing.
Pittsburgh leads the season series 2-1.  After a 4-1 victory for the Pens in the season’s sixth game, the Senators humiliated their visitors 6-2 in mid-November.  Chris Phillips led the charge that night netting two goals.
Evgeni Malkin hopes to continue his strong play of late against a team which he has posted success against this season.  In three games, Malkin has [...]

Have the Pens found Crosby’s Kevin Stevens?  Sure, that might be a stretch, but playing in his seventh game this season, Chris Conner fired home two goals off assists from Captain Crosby to lead the visiting Pens to a come-from-behind 4-2 victory against the New York Rangers in the self-proclaimed World’s Most Famous Arena.
Conner was called up from the minors today and scored twice despite playing the third fewest amount of minutes on the club (8:57).
It wasn’t all glory as the Penguins became the first team in three tries to allow a goal to the hapless Rangers.  In fact, Marc-Andre Fleury, [...]

This just in: Alex Goligoski and Bill Guerin will not play tonight against the Rangers. I cannot recall a moment where either player was “injured” in the Flyers game, but Goligoski did absorb at least a couple of very hard hits.
Martin Skoula will replace Goligoski, and Chris Conner has been recalled from the minors to fill in for Guerin, as Max Talbot is still not ready to play. The line configurations could be interesting tonight. Who’s gonna play with Crosby? I’ll throw out a guess. How about Dupuis-Crosby-Kennedy, with Rupp taking TK’s spot on the third line. We shall see.
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