Welcome to the team MounD and Killer67.

Making it official in the Roto Guide on Thursday!

Finally Pens coverage! Great work so far.

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Gates Imbeau
Assistant Manager - DobberSports.com
Writer - Fantrax.com
Regular Guest - The York Report via NextSportStar.com
Email: gates@dobbersports.com
Twitter: @GM_Gates

Didn't even realize one of these had been started. 'Bout time someone covered the Pens and their never-ending freight train of injuries.

Looking forward to your coverage.

- Very tight checking first 7-8 minutes. Malkin line w/ Neal and Kunitz seems to be the default “Top line� sans Crosby, and Malkin looks very fresh after missing the morning skate today. Disco Dan was rolling the Malkin line heavily during the first period, and I would imagine this will continue with this Crosby-less team.

In what appears to be an effort to spread out scoring w/ no Crosby, Bylsma split up the Cooke-Staal-Kennedy line in favor of some other combinations.

- Dupuis /Vitale/Cooke line was the matchup up against Datsyuk line throughout the period, and it seems like this is the matchup Bylsma wants. We are used to seeing Staal in this shut-down role; so we could potentially see more Staal line matchups against Datsyuk as the game continues.

-Sullivan began the period on the Adams line w/ Williams on the other wing, but spent more time toward the end of Period 1 on Staal’s line w/ Kennedy on the opposite wing.

PP combinations:

- Niskanen led all Penguins defensemen with 8:24 TOI, and Malkin led all forwards with 6:32 ice-time [1:19 on PP] with 2 SOG and a beautiful goal w/ 4.5 seconds left in the period.

- Only 14 SOG total through the 1st period [8-6 DET advantage]; so I would expect the 2nd period to pick up a little bit in terms of increased scoring chances.

See you all after the 2nd period...

__________________
mounD: 2011-12 Champs // 2012-13 Champs
12 Team H2H Keeper (Keep 18)
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 2G, 5BN (IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, FoW // W, Sv%, GAA, SHO

C: Getzlaf, Backes(RW),B. Richards,
LW: Parise, Hall, Kunitz, Ladd, Marchand(C,LW)
RW: Kessel, Neal(LW) Hossa, Burrows(Lw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns, Boyle
G: Rinne, M. Smith
Bn: Jussi Jokinen(C,LW), Cammalleri(C,LW), Weiss(C), Timonen, Visnosky

Farm: Kadri, Coyle, Gallagher, Järnkrok - Barrie, Trouba, Vatanen - Khudobin

After two periods, the game is tied 1-1...

-Early PP drawn by J. Neal, off a quality line-change from the Penguins… Bad turnover from I. White to create the play… absolutely INSANE drifting puck through the crease on the PP chance; diving play by Malkin and puck flies through crease… Quality puck-movement and good chances on this PP.

-Interesting note: The Penguins have already lost 152 man-games to injury and it’s not even the halfway point of the season [Letang, Crosby, Michalek, Bortuzzo, etc.].

-Cooke/Staal/Kennedy was reunited for a bit in the 2nd period; Asham skated with Dupuis’ line w/ Vitale on the opposite wing. Staal and Kennedy also skated a couple shifts w/ Craig Adams on the wing. Plenty of different line combinations from Bylsma tonight; however the 2nd period brought another steady dose of Kunitz – Malkin – Neal on Ev strength as well as PP1.

- Both teams, but the Penguins especially, have done a very good job of “trapping up� in the neutral zone this period. Under Bylsma, the Penguins defensive scheme has been pretty effective, and not just from the shut-down / checking lines; on that note, Vitale/Dupuis/Cooke has been incredibly effective shutting down the opposition [Datts, Zetterberg etc.] tonight. Vitale, especially has been incredibly tenacious in his shutdown role tonight.

-For those of you who are unfamiliar w/ Matt Niskanen, you should probably remember the name. In what was initially seen as a “throw in� in the James Neal / Goligoski trade, he’s quickly become one of the most effective Penguins defensemen in all zones. In Letang’s absence he’s been the #1 option on the Powerplay, and has been eating up ice-time [over 21+ per game] for the Penguins. His best asset is probably his skating ability, which allows him to maintain good gap position defensively, and also to join the rush and create offense on the counter-attack. I said before in a rambling that I thought Niskanen had some value in deeper formats while Letang is on the shelf [which could be awhile]. Don’t sleep on this guy.

-The Penguins have opened it up a bit in this period with some quality scoring chances; however, they have done a great job limiting the Wings. As of the 15 minute mark, the Wings had just 2 SOG to the Penguins 11 SOG.
- Datsyuk scored off a turnover in the defensive zone at the 16 minute mark on an ABSOLUTELY INSANE backhand shot over MAF blocker-side. This dude is just a special talent, probably the best player in the NHL in terms of overall impact. Perennial Selke and Hart trophy threat. The guy turns bad turnovers into goals; and the Penguins got bit hard on that one.

- Through the last few minutes of the period, the Wings seemed to gain a lot of confidence from the Datsyuk goal. The Penguins seemed to be on their heels a bit, until Malkin’s line got a late shift in the period. Malkin made a couple nice moves in the offensive zone and created a couple decent chances but there was no late-period magic like there was in the first period.
- Through two periods, Niskanen still leads all Pens defensemen with 16:20 [3+ on the PP], and Malkin leads all Pens forwards w/ 13:01 and 3:09 on the man-advantage. Pens outshot the Wings 12-5 in the period w/ game totals standing at 18-13 advantage Penguins.


EDIT:

Does the forum always add weird symbols when text is transferred from MS Word?

__________________
mounD: 2011-12 Champs // 2012-13 Champs
12 Team H2H Keeper (Keep 18)
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 2G, 5BN (IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, FoW // W, Sv%, GAA, SHO

C: Getzlaf, Backes(RW),B. Richards,
LW: Parise, Hall, Kunitz, Ladd, Marchand(C,LW)
RW: Kessel, Neal(LW) Hossa, Burrows(Lw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns, Boyle
G: Rinne, M. Smith
Bn: Jussi Jokinen(C,LW), Cammalleri(C,LW), Weiss(C), Timonen, Visnosky

Farm: Kadri, Coyle, Gallagher, Järnkrok - Barrie, Trouba, Vatanen - Khudobin

-Malkin with a great chance early in the period off the rush. Almost a carbon copy of his first period goal, the puck got through Howard and hit the post. For the second time tonight, Malkin got the puck through the goalie, but either hit the post or had the puck trickle through the blue paint… 6 SOG so far for Malkin through two periods.

-Franzen scored a quick powerplay goal [on what I believed to be a HIGHLY questionable call on Matt Niskanen] at 5:15 of the 3rd period to take a 2-1 lead; ties James Neal with most PPG in the NHL [9]. Another point for Datsyuk drawn on the only Assist. Congrats to those of you who bought low on this guy, he’s really been hot lately [as expected].

-Another penalty drawn by James Neal [sort of] on a holding call, and the Penguins went to the powerplay with 14:03 left in the period. Pretty decent puck movement during the PP, and James Neal had a quality chance off a rebound, but no success there, Penguins 0-3 on the PP to this point. The Penguins are just 1-35 on the PP in their last 10 home games against DET.

-Filppula with a breakaway w/ around 12 minutes left in the game, right at the end of the Penguins powerplay. Fleury with an amazing standing save to keep this one close. Big-time goaltender making a big-time save.

-With around 9minutes left, Malkin had ANOTHER chance coming down the wing off the rush, and was again denied by Jimmy Howard. He again went for the blocker side, and unlike the first period, he was shut down by the Wings netminder. Big-time goalies making big-time saves. Malkin now with 8 SOG to this point.

-The Wings have played a much better period here in the 3rd and dramatically cut the shot advantage. With 7 minutes left, the Pens advantage was only 22-20; additionally, the Wings have been much better on special teams. Franzen’s Powerplay goal has so far been the difference in this game.

- BIG PP opportunity for the Pens with 7 min. left in the game… Neal with a sneaky shot from the corner. Not too much trouble for Howard. Jason Williams missing the net AGAIN… Some decent opportunities, but too many missed shots. Penguins 0-4 on the PP.

-Dan Cleary scores on beautiful pass from ex=Penguin Chris Connor on a 3on2 opportunity right after the Powerplay ends, and the Wings take a 3-1 lead with a little more than 4.5 minutes left in regulation. Big time deflating goal, but the Penguins don’t understand the meaning of “quit.�

-Fleury to the bench with 1:17 remaining in the game and call TO to plan some late-game heroics. Malkin with a bomb from the blueline, Howard answers the call. Cleary able to score the EN goal, and the Wings close it out 4-1.


Three Stars:

1. Jimmy Howard [stopped 23-24 saves, recorded league-leading 18th win]
2. Pavel Datsyul [recorded a Goal and Assist int he Wings victory]
3. Evgeni Malkin [recorded 9 SOG, scored his 11th goal of season]


Game Notes:

-Jimmy Howard had a great game tonight. Stopping 23-24 Penguins shots on the night, he made his two biggest saves of the night on Evgeni Malkin. During the third period, with Malkin streaking down the wing, Howard stood tall preserving a 2-1 lead at the time.

-Malkin also had a really good game tonight, and with all the injuries in the lineup, he will be relied on similarly to tonight. Geno scored his 11th goal of the season tonight, had 9 SOG, and was on the ice for 22:29 [nearly 7 minutes on the PP]. Malkin will need more nights like tonight if the Penguins want to be successful this year.

-The Penguins played a solid game tonight in pretty much all aspects; however, their special teams left something to be desired and in my eyes, that’s where the game was decided. The Penguins gave up a Powerplay goal to Franzen, and after their last powerplay ended gave up an odd-man rush which translated into the Wings 3rd goal. Ultimately, the Penguins special teams [especially the PP] needs to be better; without Crosby, it’s going to be an uphill battle in that department.

Fun Facts and Figures:

-Craig Adams played his 700th career NHL game tonight.

-Howard [17] and MAF [15] were 1 and 2, respectively, in Goaltender Wins entering tonight’s tilt.

-MAF continues to search for his 200th career Win. Next up, Ottawa on Friday.

-Franzen tied James Neal for most Powerplay Goals tonight; both have 9 PPG on the season.

-The Wings are 16-0 when they score 3 or more goals this season.


We'll see you Friday night in Ottawa for another Pittsburgh Penguins hockey night...


-mounD

__________________
mounD: 2011-12 Champs // 2012-13 Champs
12 Team H2H Keeper (Keep 18)
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 2G, 5BN (IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, FoW // W, Sv%, GAA, SHO

C: Getzlaf, Backes(RW),B. Richards,
LW: Parise, Hall, Kunitz, Ladd, Marchand(C,LW)
RW: Kessel, Neal(LW) Hossa, Burrows(Lw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns, Boyle
G: Rinne, M. Smith
Bn: Jussi Jokinen(C,LW), Cammalleri(C,LW), Weiss(C), Timonen, Visnosky

Farm: Kadri, Coyle, Gallagher, Järnkrok - Barrie, Trouba, Vatanen - Khudobin

Absolutly awesome job mounD!!

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Bigbabybuda is the Hawking of fantasy hockey. Greatest hockey mind of our generation!

Great stuff man, really glad you stepped up to the plate to cover the Pens. I, and I'm sure a lot of others, have a fair amount riding on some Pittsburgh players this year.

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ASKL - 10 Team dynasty,G/A=1,PIM=.1,+/- =.2 SOG=.05 (W=2,SO=3) Keep 12F 6D 2G 8BN + farm
F-Perry,Ryan,Giroux,Stastny,Ribeiro,Krejci,Plekanec, JvR,Bergeron,Fleischmann,Grabovski,Cammalleri
D-Letang,Chara,Edler,Boyle,Giordano,Gardiner,
G-Rinne,Crawford
Bench-Bernier,Reimer,Parenteau,Callahan,Downie,Kulemin, Meszaros,Nikitin
Farm- Namestnikov,Khoklachev,Rundblad,Despres,Jensen, L.Adam,Barberio,Galiev,Telegin,Hertl,Aberg

That's the idea: help everyone out and have fun covering the Penguins in the process.

__________________
mounD: 2011-12 Champs // 2012-13 Champs
12 Team H2H Keeper (Keep 18)
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 2G, 5BN (IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, FoW // W, Sv%, GAA, SHO

C: Getzlaf, Backes(RW),B. Richards,
LW: Parise, Hall, Kunitz, Ladd, Marchand(C,LW)
RW: Kessel, Neal(LW) Hossa, Burrows(Lw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns, Boyle
G: Rinne, M. Smith
Bn: Jussi Jokinen(C,LW), Cammalleri(C,LW), Weiss(C), Timonen, Visnosky

Farm: Kadri, Coyle, Gallagher, Järnkrok - Barrie, Trouba, Vatanen - Khudobin

nice analysis! i look forward to reading more!

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H2H Each Cat - Yahoo - 14 teams - Cap Hit
Start: 2C 2LW 2RW 4D 2U 2G 7B
Cats: G A +- PIM SOG PPG PPA SHP GWG FW HIT W GAA SV SV% SO
Svalbard Armored Bears:
C: Getz, M Richards(LW), Turdis, Little
LW: Kovy(RW), Moulson, Kunitz, _
RW: Eriksson(LW), Clarkson, _, _
D: Pietrangelo, JJ, Streit, Spurgeon, Brodie, Nikitin
G: Lundqvist, Holtby, Harding
JV: Tarasenko, Bishop, Eakin, Killorn, Grigorgenko, Grimaldi, Collberg, Faksa, Lindholm, Irving

I second this. Any word yet why Malkin was a gametime decision?