First things first… many thanks to a great job by Dr J in writing the last 6 GAMEDAY posts for (me) us! They were great, as usual, and now that my Brother-in-law has ‘left the building’ after 6 LONG friggin painful weeks ( I better get a front row seat in purgatory for putting up with him all that time ; ) …I can get back to watching and writing about WINNING Penguin hockey! Thank you so much Dr J!
It was a wild, woolly and wonderful weeknd of PGH spoarts! Dem Stillers somehow managed to work their way into the NFL playoffs after one of the kraziest games you’ll ever see. It was in fact a Black & Gold miracle. The Penn state Icers were back in action agaist non-conference RIT and split their two game series losing a close one on Saturday but then trouncing RIT on Sunday in the rubber match.
Most importantly, the Pens continued to find a way to win, keeping their 5 game win streak alive. While winning 6 of their last 7 the Pens have completely turned their season back around after an awful December showing. They’ve scored 44 golas in their last seven games while giving up only 21. They’ve tightened up their defence and as a result the goaltending has also improved. Amazing how that happens, eh? Their offence has surged since the return of Ricky Rack seeing Sid potting 4 G’s and 5 A’s in his last five games, Rust has added 3 G’s and 6 A’s in his last five games and Rakell had a GREAT OT GWG against the Blow Jackets after coming from behind 4-1 to tie the game late in the 3rd period in their last outing.
And best of all, tonight WE see the return of the Agent 101! That is GREAT news for Pens fans. Even though Muse has seen fit to mix up the prior lines for tonight’s dual with the Devils, it’s gonna be a relief to have The MachineO back in there adding to the Pens overall firepower.
“Welcome, my MACHINO, welcome to the lineup. Where have you been? It’s alright, we know where you’ve been.”
Tonight WE face off against the NJ Devils who were embarrased 9-0 by the Islanders Tuesday night. I don’t know if that’s a bad or good thing for the Pens as the Devils will most certainly want to make up for their “no-show” match on the Island. As I write this, the Crapitholes are playing the Stars Wednesday night in Dullass and if they lose then WE can ‘vault’ into sole possession of 1st place in the division WILD CARD spot (lol) with a win tonight. A win tonight would also put us just 4 points (or so) out of 1st place in the METRO with 2 games in hanny on erreybuddy above us except the Filth. This year is still such a tight race in the Metro that the last place Blow Jagoffs are only 7 points out of 1st place in the Metro and 5 points out of a Wild Card spot. Right now it’s anybody’s race to win it seems. The Pens goal should be to return to the top 3 in the Metro before the O-limp-dik break, eh? WE can do this!
The Devils, much like us in December, have fallen on rough times losing 6 of their last 8 games, dropping them to 6th place in the division. They aren’t a dangerous scoring team so far this season ranked 29th in goals for but they are 13th in goals against. So, as long as the Pens keep playing defence and keep the Devils top line off the scoresheet, I think it’s a safe bet that with the return of Agent 101 WE will prevail for our 6th straight W. Crack open a cold one and enjoy!
LGP