Penguin Killer All Star Team
Zach Boslett | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jul 24, 11:06 PM | Hype this story!
News has been slow the past week so I decided to compile an All Star lineup of Penguin killers to pass the time and to hopefully entertain some news starved Penguin fans.
For the purposes of this list, a Penguin killer is defined as a player who just seems to score every game against the Penguins but is simply above average against everyone else.
Example: Ovechkin scores every game against the Penguins… but he does that to everyone else as well.
First Line
Jason Blake – Mats Sundin – Marc Savard
Jason Blake- deserves his spot on the top line of the Penguin killers with 47 pts in 46 career games. He was scoring at a much higher rate in his prime against the rest of the league but he has not slowed down against the Penguins scoring 3G and 3A in 4 games.
Mats Sundin- is by far the king of the Penguin killers with a staggering 81 points in 54 career games, 1.5 pts/G. He has scored the most points against the Penguins than any other team in the league except Montreal (81 pts in 87 games).
Marc Savard- is a center by trade but his scoring rate against the Penguins deserves top ice time. He has 43 pts in 32 games. He also seems to get under the skin of Crosby for some reason and it nearly led to the most unlikely fight of the regular season.
Second Line
Nik Antropov – Olli Jokinen – Cory Stillman
Nik Antropov- is well known for killing the Penguins to the tune of 25 pts in 27 games and always seems to just dominate the front of the net against the Pens. For some reason the player the Pens see 4 times a year is not the Antropov the rest of the league sees and is known as an enigma.
Olli Jokinen- has long killed the Penguins with 31 pts in 38 games with the Florida Panthers. Jokinen did it this year too while with Phoenix and Calgary. In the Penguins lone game against Phoenix he scored 1G. In the March 25th game, Jokinen, then with Calgary, did not score but was robbed several times by Fleury and hit at least two posts in the Penguins 2-0 victory.
Cory Stillman- has been around a long time and has murdered the Penguins just as long. He has scored 35 pts in 28 games against the Penguins which is by far the highest PPG against any team in his career.
Third (Midget) Line
Brian Gionta – Scott Gomez – Sergei Samsanov
Brian Gionta- the smallest (a short shoooort 5’7”) of the midget line, Gionta has scored 28 pts in 38 career games, second to his 29 pts against Philadelphia. He scored a crazy awesome shorthanded goal against the Penguins this season.
Scott Gomez- (5’11”) is another Atlantic Division stalwart who enjoyed ripping the Penguins for multi-point games during his time with the Devils and Rangers. Gomez scored 48 pts in 56 games, his highest point total against any one team.
Sergei Samsanov- (5’8”) is the waiver wire king who has found a home in Carolina after bouncing around for a while. He’d be an all star if he played the Penguins every game. He’s scored 36 pts in 37 games, nearly a PPG pace. The next closest total is 29 pts in 48 career games which is not even close.
Fourth Line
Miroslav Satan – R.J. Umberger – Mike Knuble
Miroslav Satan- would score a goal seemingly every game against the Penguins while with Buffalo and New York. He has scored 26G 19A for a total of 45 pts in 56 games. Satan also hurt the Penguins this season by disappearing for long stretches of the regular season.
R.J. Umberger- enjoys teams against his hometown Penguins to the tune of 18 pts in 25 games. He torched the Penguins in the playoffs as well and many in Pittsburgh were glad to see the Plum native traded to Columbus before last season.
Mike Knuble- has scored 23 G and 12A for a total of 35 pts in 53 games against Pittsburgh. Unfortunately Yahoo doesn’t keep track of goals that have hit his shins first before going into the net.
Defense
Michal Rozsival – Brad Stuart
Brian Rafalski – Jason Smith
Michal Rozsival- has 20 pts in 29 career games against his former team which is high for a forward let alone a defensemen. He scores seemingly every game against Pittsburgh and has played solid defense as well.
Brad Stuart- struggled in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final defensively but still managed to score a goal in the series. 8 pts in 13 career regular season games and he scored in last years Cup finals as well. Not known for offensive flair, these numbers are very high for a Western Conference player.
Brian Rafalski- has scored 31 pts in 41 games against Pittsburgh, second to his 32 pts against the Rangers. He used to torch the Penguins while manning the New Jersey blueline and continued to do so in the Stanley Cup Finals the past two years as well.
Jason Smith- is not known for his offense but his physicality and nastiness have shown through against Pittsburgh’s stars during his time with Philadelphia and Ottawa in recent years. Crosby and Smith especially did not get along.
Goaltender
Cam Ward – Jose Theodore
Cam Ward- struggled in the playoffs against the Penguins in the playoffs but has a great record against Pittsburgh with a 9-3 record, 2.43 GAA and a .916 SV%. This season, Ward was 2-0 with a 1.49 GAA and a .956 SV%. He just seems to be impossible for the Penguins to solve.
Jose Theodore- has a great career record against the Penguins at 15-4-1-2. Something about Pittsburgh seems to click for him and he has very solid numbers as well. 2.30 GAA and a .914 SV% with 3 shutouts in his career. He still has nightmares of Crosby 1-on-1 however.
So there it is. Post your thoughts/comments and who is your own personal Penguin Killer. I created this lineup with current NHLers but who in the past drove you Penguin fans mad?
Comments
Ivan
Jul 24, 11:33 PM
No Viktor Kozlov?
You’re missing 2 Dmen but whatever, good stuff.
Eric
Jul 25, 01:07 AM
I’d like to nominate John LeClair to have his number retired by this team. He would’ve made this list, if it wasn’t all active players.
Nice article.
Pens1967
Jul 25, 07:02 AM
Shouldn’t Hal Gill get a mention for all the goals he deflected into his own (Pens) net last year? :)
DaBich
Jul 25, 11:37 AM
LOL Pens, good one!
Anything in print is good now, I’m dying for preseason to start!
bag o' pucks
Jul 25, 03:28 PM
I’m with you, Dabich. Oof, during these dog days, so little hockey info I’m starting to get the shakes.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jul 25, 03:51 PM
If anyone has story suggestions or wants to submit a story, we’re more than happy to accommodate.
bag o' pucks
Jul 25, 05:04 PM
I find the Phoenix situation quite interesting. Hypothetically, if Balsille gets the Phoenix franchise and moves it to Hamilton, the league would require realignment. Who goes to the Western Conference? Geographically, Atlanta is the westernmost club in the Eastern Conference. Who would move to the Pacific, and who would move into that vacated spot in another division, who would move out of the Northeast to accomodate Hamilton, etc?
Malk
Jul 25, 07:21 PM
Ok, so is there a deadline or something that the Pens have to resign Curry? Just bored since there is no news in hockey now.
Liked the read. Good list.
Dabich
Jul 27, 09:36 AM
Hey Pucks, if Balsille gets anything, we need to move HIM someplace, like maybe Pluto!
C’mon over, let’s have some Captain Morgan’s and coke for those shakes ;)
Matt Bodenschatz
Jul 27, 10:55 AM
@Bag, I put up the first of what I hope will be several stories regarding the Coyotes’ situation. Today’s deals with a new group interested in splitting time between Phoenix and a Canadian city. I hope to write another story on the ramifications of moving a team from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference.
@Malk, here’s how the process for restricted free agents work:
Teams must meet a deadline to extend a qualifying offer to RFAs. That qualifying offer — signed or rejected by the player — serves as a sign of good faith and interest from the team and keeps the player with the organization. At that point, it is up to the team and player to agree on contract terms. There is no other deadline.
It is my belief Curry will sign relatively soon, though likely only on a one-year deal.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jul 27, 11:00 AM
@Dabich, I wouldn’t mind seeing Balsille get a team at this point. My problem with him in the past was his sneaky plan to purchase the Penguins using a “keep the team in Pittsburgh” platform, then turn around a move them to Canada. The Penguins reside in a viable hockey market — despite the decline in attendance in the early 2000s due to a poor team.
He then moved in an tried to steal the Predators in a similar fashion. That’s a relatively successful team with relatively decent fan support.
In Phoenix, the team is in shambles and the fans haven’t been there for years. I’m of the belief the NHL needs more northern teams in cold-weather climates and fewer sunbelt/desert teams. Balsillie wants to accomplish this by moving a team to a hockey hotbed, and I like it.
He’s determined, ultra-passionate, and extremely rich. Any team he owns surely would be a competitor on a yearly basis and would bring money to the NHL.
As a person, I can’t stand Balsillie. But his plan not only is good for fans in Hamilton, but also for fans of the NHL in general.
Malk
Jul 27, 01:32 PM
Thanks Matt, for some reason I thought at some point the “restricted” tag went away. Thanks for clearing that up!
Matt Bodenschatz
Jul 27, 02:30 PM
No problem.
Dabich
Jul 27, 04:30 PM
Maybe Matt, Balsillie is passionate about the sport, but he’s still a sneak.
And like Pucks says, what will happen to the rest of the league? Will re-alignment be good? Or bad? Has anyone looked into this factor?
If it’s good,then I can maybe bend a little, and accept Balsillie as an owner of an NHL team.
bag o' pucks
Jul 27, 05:00 PM
Dabs, I just may take you up on that!
Matt Bodenschatz
Jul 27, 06:01 PM
@Dabich, I think re-alignment is the last thing on the league’s mind. In reality, the most pressing issue is the viability of a franchise. In Phoenix, we’re talking about a team that is losing money annually, has a horrible arena lease that will prevent the situation from getting much better, and has a dwindling fanbase that doesn’t look to change (because the money being lost is preventing management from icing a quality team). In Hamilton, the “Coyotes” would be in a hockey hotbed that would produce big bucks and create a natural rivalry and, thus, more interest.
I’m not a fan of Balsillie, either. He swooped in and tried to move the Penguins, after all. But business is business, and the minute you let personal feelings get in the way, things go downhill.
John
Jul 28, 11:00 AM
David Volek gives this topic a thumbs up.
DS
Jul 28, 05:32 PM
Isn’t Brad Stuart permanently disqualified after giving us both goals in Game 7 of an SCF? :)
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