MVN: Most Valuable Network

Friends,

I have decided to move on from MVN immediately and accept a position to become the Penguins' blogger at Kukla's Korner.  Of course, those who are familiar with hockey websites know that Kukla's Korner is one of the most respected online hockey sites, and I'm looking forward to continue my Penguins' blogging with Paul and the ten other blogs that he has brought onboard, including the good buddy of the boys at Pensblog, the Wings' Abel to Yzerman (just kidding).

I wanted to publicly thank Evan, Brandon, and Cory at MVN for their continued support over these years.  They've done some great work getting MVN ready for the transition to the new platform, and I'm confident that MVN will continue to grow and continue to be one of the top sports networks online.

My new URL at KK will be http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tc/ and the new RSS feed will be http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheConfluenceOnKK. 

Thanks again, and LET'S GO PENS !!!!

Different game, same result. A few days after getting dominated in the third period by the Rangers, getting outshot 19-2 and blowing a two goal lead, the Penguins continued their lackluster play in an ugly 2-1 loss to the Sharks tonight in San Jose. The game was played at a high tempo early on.  The Sharks were definitely the more aggressive team, although they didn't appear to get many decent scoring chances.  This as the Sharks just returned from an East Coast road trip.  So much for that first game back, huh. The first fisticuffs of the night took place early in the first period between Eric Godard and Jody Shelley.  Godard got in a couple of good blows until he got the jersey pulled over his head, resulting in Shelley knocking Godard to the ice.  Decision - Shelley. The Penguins got their first powerplay of the night midway through the first period, but... Read more

Penguins at Sharks, 10:30PM EST, HP Pavilion. Season records:  Penguins, 5-2-2, 12 pts., 4th in Eastern Conference Sharks, 7-2-0, 14 pts., 1st in Western Conference Season series:  1st meeting Last game vs. Sharks:  Feb. 24, 2008, Sharks def. Penguins, 2-1 (SO) Last game results:  Rangers def. Penguins, 3-2 (SO), Sharks def. Lightning, 3-0 Special teams rankings:  Powerplay:  Penguins 22.0% (6th), Sharks 18.8% (11th) Penalty Kill:  Penguins 85.4% (T-9th), Sharks 82.4% (12th) Probable goaltender rankings: SV%:  Penguins - Dany Sabourin .972 (N/A), Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov .875 (38th) GAA:  Penguins - Dany Sabourin 0.92 (N/A), Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov 3.11 (26th) Notes: Out of the Penguins' four losses this season, three have been due to blown third period leads. Forward Max Talbot is 9th in the NHL in faceoff percentage with a 57.7% success rate. Defenseman Brooks Orpik leads the Pens in ice time per game at 22:43, but is only the 52nd highest in the NHL.... Read more

If NHL scouts are doing their job, they should be including one important aspect to their respective teams when they're facing the Penguins; If we're down going into the third period, don't give up, the Penguins like to sit back. Boy, do they ever. For the second time in nine days, the Penguins sat back in the third period and allowed the New York Rangers to pummel goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury by an 18-2 shot margin, giving up two goals to tie the game.  Eventually, the game went to a shootout, where Frederick Sjostrom's goal gave the Rangers the extra point with a 3-2 win. Not the greatest start to a four game road trip.  It has to give the Penguins nightmares knowing that out of the four losses they have in their first nine games (either regulation or other), three of them are due to blown third period leads. The Penguins were... Read more

Penguins at Rangers, 7PM EST, Madison Square Garden. Season records:  Penguins, 5-2-1, 11 pts., 5th in Eastern Conference Rangers 7-2-1, 15 pts., 1st in Eastern Conference Season series:  1st meeting Last game vs. Rangers:  May 4, 2008, Eastern Conference Semifinals - Game Five, Penguins eliminate Rangers 3-2 (OT). Last game results:  Penguins def. Hurricanes 4-1, Oct. 23.  Rangers def. Blue Jackets 3-1, Oct. 24. Special teams rankings:  Powerplay:  Penguins 23.1% (5th), Rangers 14.6% (23rd) Penalty Kill:  Penguins 86.1% (8th), Rangers 90.5% (5th) Probably goaltender rankings: SV%:  Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury .928 (5th), Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist .926 (7th) GAA:  Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury 2.22 (8th), Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist 2.01 (6th) Notes: The Penguins were 0-3-1 at MSG last season. Forward Matt Cooke is due back in the lineup for the Penguins after a torso/rib injury, defenseman Hal Gill remains out with a suspected injured hand. Forward Bill Thomas was re-assigned to... Read more

It looked for a while that it was going to be a very frustrating night for the Penguins. The Pens, for a change, were getting plenty of shots on net on Canes' goalie Michael Leighton throughout the night, although I'd have to say that most of them weren't high percentage shots.  Leighton was standing his ground (or is that ice), keeping the Pens off the scoreboard through two periods.  But Leighton and the Canes couldn't withstand a four goal onslaught by the Pens that resulted in a 4-1 win at the Igloo. The Pens had the better of the chances early on in the first period, including quality scoring chances by both Pascal Dupuis and Ruslan Fedotenko, but both were stopped by Leighton. The first bout of the night took place between Paul Bissonnette and former Penguin Dan LaCouture a couple of minutes into the game.  Bissonnette clearly got most of the... Read more

And the hits just keep on comin'. The Penguins' defensive corps has taken yet another hit, although it's unknown at this time for how long.  According to the Pittsburgh PG, veteran defenseman Hal Gill missed practice today with an undisclosed injury and it's not known at this time whether Gill will be able to dress for Thursday night's tilt versus Carolina. If Gill cannot make it for the Canes game, Darryl Sydor will fill in.  Sydor has only dressed for two of the Pens' first seven games.... Read more

It wasn't the prettiest of games, that's for sure, but it resulted in two points nonetheless for the Penguins as they outlasted the Bruins, 2-1 in a shootout win. It was a very physical, tight checking game, with most of the physical play coming from the Bruins.  However, probably the biggest hit of the night came from a rather unlikely source on the Penguins, forward Pascal Dupuis. The first period was marred, at least on the Penguins' side, by more penalties, similar to what happened on Saturday night versus Toronto.  In addition, the Bruins dominated in the faceoff circle, resulting in a lot of the action taking place in the Penguins' zone. The only fisticuffs of the night, if you want to call it that, took place in the first period as well, as resident heavyweights Eric Godard and Scott Thornton danced around for a few seconds before Thornton lost... Read more

So much for that Sidney Crosby slump, eh ? Crosby broke out from a scoreless season to date to score his first goal of the campaign along with three assists as the Penguins broke open a tight game in the third period to down the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1. Crosby's linemate tonight Evgeni Malkin also had four points for the Pens, who were still smarting from blowing the three goal lead against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. Marc-Andre Fleury played solid again tonight for the Penguins, stopping 26 of 27 shots. It was the Leafs who actually got on the board first on the back end of the third consecutive penalty on the Penguins, totalling nearly eight minutes.  Tomas Kaberle made a centering pass in the slot to Jason Blake, whose slapper was stopped by Fleury.  However, Nik Antropov was able to get the rebound through Fleury's five hole to make it... Read more

First of all, let me acknowledge my colleague Hooks Orpik at The Sweater Ted, I noticed this morning that he's got an article today discussing the same topic.  So just throwing it out there, not stealing your thunder bud, great minds think alike (or something like that). A lot of Penguins fans are perplexed at the relatively slow start that the team has undergone after the first three games of the year. But in all honesty, they really shouldn't be.  This is nothing new. The first year of the Crosby era, the '05-'06 season, saw the Pens come out of the gate 6-9-6.  Head coach Eddie Olczyk was fired in mid-December, Mario Lemieux retired for good in January 2006 and free agent signee Ziggy Palffy retired to Europe the same month.  The next season, in '06-'07, saw the Penguins start 10-8-4.  Last season the Pens started 8-11-2.  That prompted me... Read more

The NHL did their part, can't blame it on them. The Penguins had four days off after returning home from their Sweden excursion with the Ottawa Senators.  The NHL wanted to avoid the travel weariness that the Anaheim Ducks exhibited last season. However, the Penguins had their opener tonight against the New Jersey Devils and really played a sloppy, uninspired game. It's plainly obvious that it's going to take some time for this group of Penguins to mesh and get some kind of chemistry flowing, because there is precious little of that happening right now. The first period was played at a very crisp, fast and physical pace between both teams.  As a result, the customary fisticuffs ensued between new Pen Eric Godard and the Devils' David Clarkson, which I'd have to say was probably a draw due to boredom. The fans primary reason for angst during the first two games, the powerplay, actually... Read more