Blogs

Morning practice tidbits hours before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final: — BABCOCK: CROSBY A HEAD HUNTER Red Wings coach Mike Babcock took a well-disguised dig at Penguins C Sidney Crosby on Sunday morning. “To me the battle they had going last night between (Red Wings C Henrik) Zetterberg and Crosby was a great [...]

Some post-Game 1 observations and pre-Game 2 thoughts from Detroit at the Stanley Cup Final: — STAR GAZING My three stars from Game 1 (a 3-1 Red Wings’ victory over the Penguins at Joe Louis Arena): 1 – C Henrik Zetterberg, Red Wings. He owned the faceoff circle, winning 15 of 20 draws, including one [...]

Nuggets from Friday’s Media Day in Detroit: ——— START ME UP The Penguins have become a popular pick to win this Stanley Cup Final against the defending champion Detroit Red Wings: ESPN.com Fanhouse.com As for my pick, well you’ll have to check out the Vlog … Rossi Says So, what say yinz? Drop your predictions [...]

Some thoughts and observations after the Eastern Conference final, which the Penguins swept Tuesday with a 4-1 victory in Game 4 over the Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center: STAR GAZING 1. G Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins: At some point he’ll start getting credit (especially if he wins four more games in these playoffs). 2. C Sidney [...]

A quick update prior to Game 4 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final, which the Penguins can wrap with a win over the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.: — VIEWS FROM THE ROOMS I’ve learned two things from covering the past three Stanley Cup playoffs: 1) Momentum rarely carries over from [...]

Some thoughts and observations Monday following off-day practices for the Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes from Raleigh, N.C.: — LOOKING AHEAD The Stanley Cup final seems a sure bet to open this weekend in Detroit if the Red Wings and Penguins wrap their respective conference final series by Thursday. The Cup final is set to start [...]

A few post-game observations following the Penguins’ 6-2 victory Saturday over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final, which the Penguins lead, 3-0: — STAR GAZING 1 – C Evgeni Malkin, Penguins. The two goals were sweet, but how about that drop pass to set up LW Ruslan Fedotenko’s goal? [...]

A few post-game observations following the Penguins’ 7-4 victory Thursday over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final, which the Penguins lead, 2-0: — STAR GAZING 1 – C Evgeni Malkin, Penguins. A hat trick and an assist for, yep, the NHL’s leading playoff scorer. (Take that, haters!) 2 – [...]

A few post-game notes following the Penguins’ 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final: THE TRIB TRIFECTA 1. G Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins: So far, he’s been the best goalie in either conference final. 2. D Philippe Boucher, Penguins: Putting his best foot forward (pun SOOO intended) in the [...]

A few notes following respective morning practices for the Penguins and Hurricanes prior to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final: — *GONCHAR TO GO: Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said injured D Sergei Gonchar (right knee) “looked comfortable” in practice and likened the decision to play Gonchar tonight to the “Game 7″ situation at Washington [...]