Staal Falls

photo credit: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30651551/ns/sports-nhl/

Yes, I'm aware this is a photo from last season, but Sergei does seem to be having a rather good tantrum. He left the ice during Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Blues with what turned out to be a broken wrist. There was some speculation at the time that he left simply because the Blues sucked so bad, but he was in fact injured. Gonchar should be returning to game play in 4-6 weeks; in the meantime, the Pens will have to adjust to playing without him. They didn't seem to have a problem with that while battling the Blues:

++Times Jordan Staal fell*: 0 (again!)

++Number of times Malkin ended up in the box*: 0...but Crosby landed there twice ??

++Number of fights: 3

++Notable fights: The end of the first period saw Crosby in a cat fight with a Blues opponent after Crosby was checked into the boards. It was so cute.

This game looked like a near-repeat of the Lightning game last weekend. The Pens played aggressively against an opposing team that could barely put up a fight. They did have a little trouble getting back into the groove during the second, when Malkin attempted 3 back-to-back shots on goal and was blocked each time. The camera managed to capture him mouthing "F*ck!" after the third attempt, proving that Malkin does, in fact, know some English. Not that you could tell from his interviews :D Goals by Malkin, Kennedy, Cooke, Fedotenko and Goligosky closed the game with a 5-1 Pens victory.

*This is getting ridiculous. Staal managed a full-on axel to avoid falling over a Blues player's leg. Did they swap him for one of his brothers in the off-season, or what? And what's this with Malkin staying out of the box and Sid ending up there instead? We may have to shift our focus a bit. From here on out, we will try to bestow the Jordal Staal Award for Excellence in Falling on another player in each game.