October 12
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Darryl Sydor deflected the question - why did the longest-tenured NHL defenseman on the Penguins' roster play six minutes and 31 seconds Saturday night as a left wing? - to coach Michel Therrien. "Ask him," Sydor said following the Penguins' 2-1 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils at Mellon Arena. "I'm going to keep to myself, be a professional and work hard." Therrien, who essentially shelved the fourth line that Sydor shared with right wing Eric Godard and forward Michael Zigomanis, said Sydor's role last night was determined by the need to use him at the point on the Penguins' second power-play unit. "And we thought (rookie defenseman Alex) Goligoski did a great job his last game, ..."
October 12
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Their "Flower" in mid-October bloom prevented the Penguins' home opener from becoming a total disaster. Still, even a 47-save performance Saturday by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury against the New Jersey Devils at Mellon Arena could not mask the obvious. "We didn't deserve a win," captain Sidney Crosby said following a disappointing 2-1 overtime loss to the Devils. "We didn't deserve a point." Fleury, though, deserved better than an overtime loss. He had turned aside 44 shots before New Jersey left wing Patrik Elias sent a puck cross-ice and toward the cage late in the third period. Youth hockey players note: What follows is the perfect example why sending pucks near the net is never a bad ..."
October 11
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
columnist Mike Prisuta
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It's a Hockey Night in Pittsburgh, a much-anticipated event the Penguins are expecting to develop into an entirely different experience from last weekend's season-opening puckin Stockholm, Sweden. Those games against the Senators counted, the standings say so, and at least a couple of Penguins have to be happy they did. Defenseman Rob Scuderi scored a goal in one of them, eclipsing his total of zero in 71 games a season ago. And winger Tyler Kennedy had a two-goal night in Game 1 against Ottawa after failing to get one in the 20 playoff games in which he appeared last spring. So it's safe to assume neither one of those guys is complaining. Still, the Penguins' Swedish experience was ..."
October 11
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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It will be no banner debut Saturday for the pennant that pays homage to the Penguins' 2008 Eastern Conference championship. Actually, team game-night producer Billy Wareham should pray for a malfunctioning spotlight, because anything calling attention on Mellon Arena's newest decorative drapery will only additionally agitate the players responsible for its existence. "I've never really been a big fan of hanging banners when you don't win," center Max Talbot said Friday. "Detroit won last year, (the Red Wings are) the winners. "I wouldn't call our season a failure, but we weren't winners. Our banner doesn't say 'Stanley Cup Champions.'" The Penguins' banner doesn't say Stanley Cup anything. ..."
October 10
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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The Penguins' new No. 1 line didn't exactly click last weekend in Sweden. By the midpoint of Game 2 against Ottawa, coach Michel Therrien had already begun to tinker with the threesome, and had replaced Miroslav Satan with Evgeni Malkin on the line that included Sidney Crosby and Ruslan Fedotenko. The Penguins weren't expecting an instant chemistry to materialize between Crosby, Satan and Fedotenko, and those expectations were met against the Senators. "It went pretty well," Crosby said. "It was Ottawa. It's not like we were playing against an easy set of defensemen. You're playing against (Anton) Volchenkov, (Chris) Phillips, (Jason) Smith, (Filip) Kuba. These guys are pretty good. It was ..."