Let's Face It - Pit/Atl Style

Jonathan Farzalo | Pittsburgh Penguins

Mar 17, 11:20 AM | Hype this story!

Let’s Face It...Ruslan Fedotenko will not rematch Colby Armstrong. The fact that Fed-ex missed a month after dropping Army with a single punch probably wasn’t the best use of his time.

Let’s Face It...While Ilya Kovalchuk would look great on Sidney Crosby’s wing, it isn’t ever going to happen, and to be honest, I’m not sure I can ever get past their match up a few years ago (when Kovalchuk scored on a penalty by Sid and pointed at him afterwards).

Let’s Face It...The Penguins should win the game tonight, but they have had a ton of trouble against teams below them in the standings, and the Thrashers have won 6 straight.

Let’s Face It...We should be thankful the Penguins are not wearing their powder blue jerseys…maybe they could sport those ‘killer’ green St. Patty’s Day ones instead? Ok, maybe not.

Let’s Face It...The fact that the Pittsburgh powerplay is ranked 24th is beyond horrible, incomprehensible, and inexcusable…but the fact that Atlanta, the Atlanta Thrashers are ranked 10th, well that is pretty impressive seeing as though they are well beyond the playoff hunt.

Let’s Face It...Evgeni Malkin has no business being on the point on the powerplay. He is worthless and misused in that role. He is much better utilized on the half-boards, giving Sid freedom to roam and setup from behind the net, and tap in the occasional rebound…am I the ONLY one who remembers seeing him do plenty of that in the past few seasons before this one?!

Let’s Face It...The chances of seeing Sidney Crosby without a visor tonight are pretty slim; he only took it off because Marc Savard told him he wouldn’t fight him with a visor on, but never obliged to fight after Sid took it off.

Let’s Face It...The Penguins will sellout tonight’s game, making that 101 sellouts in a row at Mellon Arena.

Let’s Face It...The Penguins need to cut down on the goals against. They have given up 16 goals in the last five games (not counting the 1 goal awarded via shootouts)….for an average of 3.20 goals a game. While not horrendous, that number would look much nicer in the 2.50 range.

Let’s Face It...Kovalchuk being out for tonight’s game hurts, the Thrashers anyways, as he figures in on approximately 40% of their total offense.

Comments

  1. Andrew Rothey

    Mar 17, 12:31 PM

    While you are correct, it is very likely only a pipedream that Ilya Kovalchuk will ever patrol Crosby’s wing, I think if the situation ever presented itself where the Penguins could acquire Kovalchuk (with an extended contract for around $7.5 per year) for perhaps Staal, Goligoski, and a #1 pick, it would be madness to still hold a grudge over Kovalchuk’s taunting tactics several seasons back.

    You’d be amazed what you are able to forget when you put a 2-time 50-goal scorer in the prime of his career next to the most creative playmaker in the game. I love how Staal’s game has really blossomed under Bylsma and Goligoski really looks like a great puckmover in the making, but that is a deal that I believe would be well worth making, for both teams.

    I am sure the Penguins would have to do some serious work on the salary cap issues to make it happen, but I would be interested what better deal ATL could find than the one I proposed.

  2. Maagwa

    Mar 17, 12:51 PM

    “Let’s Face It…Kovalchuk being out for tonight’s game hurts, the Thrashers anyways, as he figures in on approximately 40% of their total offense.”

    Without Kovalchuk they beat Capitals 6-1
    :popcorn:

  3. Jonathan Farzalo

    Mar 17, 01:36 PM

    @ Maagwa – Yea, they sure did, but that’s like saying the Penguins won without Sidney in their lineup. Regardless of how the Pens play WITHOUT him I would much rather HAVE him in the lineup.

  4. Ihateflyersfans

    Mar 17, 02:42 PM

    Wait… Sid tried to fight Savard? When? and why is this the first I’m hearing of this.. I assume this was the most recent game against Boston on Sunday because its the first game I missed in a while…

  5. Moq

    Mar 17, 02:43 PM

    A 3.2 goals against average over five games is a horrendous stat. At this point in time only in the cases of Atlanta and Toronto would it be season average improvement. The fact that our offence has been able to keep up is very satisfactory, but the defensive numbers have to improve.

    Let’s face it, the power play percentage has steadily declined from 20.3% after 10 games to 17% at the season halfway point, and now we’re at 16.1%. That’s another potential playoff stumbling block, especially added to the defensive woes.

    Let’s hope they can fix it.

  6. Jonathan Farzalo

    Mar 17, 02:46 PM

    @MOQ – You are so correct, the 3.20 GAA is bad, just bad….and as long as Malkin goes out on the PP at the point, the PP will struggle.

    @Ihateflyersfans – Yes, it was last game against Boston.

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