Staal Falls

photo credit

The Pens seem to be on something of a roller coaster lately. Last week's rematch against the Bruins was one of the best games I've ever seen. Billy Guerin rescued the Penguins by scoring the last goal in regulation, with .4 seconds remaining to tie up the game. Pascal Dupuis proved to be the real hero of the game, bringing the Pens an overtime victory and scoring his 100th career goal. Well done, Dupuis.

The next game against the Senators did not go so well, mostly due to poor defense, but the Pens didn't sink into a slump this time. With Malkin, Gonchar and Talbot back on the ice, the latter for one of the first times this season, last night's game against Atlanta fell in the Penguins' favor.

++Times Jordan Staal fell: 2

++Most players involved in a Staal fall: 1

++Falls resulting in a goal: 0 (though he did score, so well done there)

++Number of times Malkin landed in the box: 1 (it could have been more, but he actually managed to shrug off a challenge from the Thrashers as the Pens carried a 3 goal lead)

The Jordan Staal award is issued to Michael Rupp...again. His attempts to defend the goal by falling are truly awe-inspiring. Please keep it up!

As well as Talbot played last season, we haven't quite determined whether or not he deserves his self-proclaimed "Superstar" title. But we did learn something new from his actions last night. He was awarded a penalty shot, which we had not seen the Pens earn before. Apparently these are awarded in lieu of a power play when the shooter is clearly robbed of a goal opportunity. In this case, the Thrashers goalie dislodged the net, causing delay of game as it was reset. Talbot failed to score, but the Pens still came out with a 3-2 victory.

photo credit: lolcats

SSDD. Or days, I should say. Serious lack of entertainment recently. The Pens' last California game was even worse than the two previous, leading to a 5-0 loss against the Sharks. We were optimistic that a return to the east coast would provide a much-needed boost...but we were wrong. So sadly wrong. Tuesday's game against Boston put the Penguins on the dark side of another shutout (3-0). Fleury left the ice with about 90 seconds remaining in the game so that the offensive line could gain an extra man. This turned out to be a great decision...for the Bruins. Assistant captain Patrice Bergeron shoveled the puck from in front of his goal to land in the empty net on the opposite side of the rink, scoring the final Bruins goal with less than 4 seconds remaining.

As if we needed another reminder, luck is not on the Penguins side at the moment. Tuesday's game added Brooks Orpik to the Disabled List, where he joins Max Talbot, Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy and Kris Letang. In short, everyone is broken. Apparently assistant manager Tom Fitzgerald suffered a serious foot injury over the summer, and Penguins' president David Morehouse even suffered a heart attack while preparing to leave California this week. Luckily he is being treated and is expected to recover. It's not really worth a recap today. Suffice to say, we wish them luck in tomorrow's game against New Jersey...they're going to need it.

Photo credit:  http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/photos?photoId=272111&gameId=291105008

We're going to have to combine this week's games between the Pens and Ducks/Kings as not much happened in either game and they both had similar dastardly endings.  We’re still missing Malkin,  Gonchar and Talbot and even the return of Kennedy couldn’t make up for their absence.  The highlight of Tuesday’s game (Ducks) was Crosby’s baseball inspired slide into the goal to keep the Ducks from scoring. As far as Thursday’s game, although the Kings scored the first goal, Staal managed to tie the game within a minute of the Kings scoring their first goal and less than a minute and a half into the game.   No one seemed more confused than Staal who appeared genuinely surprised that his shot went in (see above picture).  We also really enjoyed Adams’ check, which resulted in the shattering of one of the rink’s glass panes, and the 5 minute intermission it took for someone to find a piece of glass that was the right size to replace it.  Here are this week’s combined totals for Staal falls:

 

++Total times Jordan Staal fell: 3

 

++Most people involved in a Staal fall: None

 

++Staal falls resulting in a goal: 1 (technically he scored the goal right before he was tripped but it was still a goal with a fall)

 

++Number of times Crosby landed in the box (since Malkin is currently out of commission): 1

 

++Jordan Staal award for excellence in falling this game goes to:  Number 11 on the King’s for a Staal-worthy faceplant into the boards during the second third.

 

Finally those of us at Staal Falls would like to extend a hearty WTF to the NHL and all of their currently injured players.  According to our count nearly all of our favorite players arecurrently injured.  This list includes Malkin, Gonchar, Eric Staal, Ovechkin, Talbot, Kovalchuk, and as of this afternoon Cam Ward.  We’ve noticed that this list includes a large number of assistant captains as well as players recently having encountered the Columbus Blue Jackets (we smell a conspiracy).  We hope these guys get better soon and that Flower, Jordan Staal, Semin and Crosby are all taking care of themselves as they’re all that’s left of our favorite players.  Be safe guys!  -Slick and Riz