Wow.

What a game. What a comeback.

The game itself was actually a chippy, flukey, badly-officiated affair, but it was still amazing.

I wonder if blowing a 3-0 lead makes Jagr feel like he's "dying alive?" Continue reading...

Spezza Out? Alfredsson In?

Interesting....

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/Sports/Senators/2008/04/13/5274861.html

The plot thickened surrounding the status of centre Jason Spezza.

After suffering a leg injury in Friday's 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Spezza wasn't on the ice today and he may not play tomorrow in Game 3 of the series.

If Spezza can't play, then he'll be added to the injury list with captain Daniel Alfredsson (knee), centre Mike Fisher (knee) and centre Chris Kelly (foot).

While it's expected Spezza will play with the Senators trailing 2-0 in the series, Ottawa players swear they won't just throw in the towel.

"He's just banged up a bit from what I know," said defenceman Chris Phillips. "Obviously, you want him in the lineup. You gotta go out play your hardest. We can't just put our heads down, kick the wall and say, 'Let's hope everyone is healthy next year.' We're going to fight and we've got a couple of home games to turn the series around."

The club called winger Alexander Nikulin from its AHL affiliate in Binghamton. He will play no matter what Spezza's status is.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=73b5e2c2-e0c7-4337-929d-1901e6a30dbd

While Ottawa Senators coach and general manager Bryan Murray said Saturday the team's injury situation was status quo, rumours persist that injured captain Daniel Alfredsson might attempt to return for Monday's Game 3.

Alfredsson didn't skate Saturday but did attend the team's video meeting before practice.

Meanwhile, the Senators on Saturday recalled 22-year-old centre Alexander Nikulin from Binghamton of the American Hockey League.

Murray said it's possible Nikulin will play in either Game 3 or Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final against Pittsburgh.

I think that Spezza will play and that Alfredsson won't, but he might be there for game four.

Will the series going to Ottawa change anything? Probably not. The Pens only have to win one of two and they go back to Pittsburgh up 3-1, so I doubt Ottawa is going to get back into this!

Go Pens! Continue reading...

The Pens on YouTube

Here are a few awesome Pens' videos from YouTube:







^^^ That last one was editted together by yours truly! Continue reading...

Pens Win! My heart stops momentarily...

The Pens have taken a 2-0 series lead over the Ottawa Sentators.



In the process they almost stopped my heart.



Watching the team pepper the Sens with shots and give themselves a 3-0 lead was amazing. It was a emotional high that I never wanted to come down from.



And then it happened.



3-1. That's okay... the Sens were bound to score sometime.



3-2. Damn...Okay guys, get another quick one and regain that 2 goal lead.



3-3. My stomach hits the floor.



I've seen this before. The Pens manage a great game for 30 minutes and then spend the next 30 minutes dying.



And then Ryan Malone scored and all was right with the world.

Game 3 is Monday night in Ottawa.



Put that dagger in their hearts boys!

Continue reading...

About PenguinsExperience.com

PenguinsExperience.com is a Pittsburgh Penguins blog .  We have NHL pre-game reviews, post-game previews, news, commentary and more, here for your viewing pleasure.  The goal of this blog is to make you truly Experience the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I grew up - and still live - in Toronto, but I was never a Leafs fan.  I have watched and loved the Pittsburgh Penguins for years.   It all started back in the late 80s and it started, ironically, with Wayne Gretzky. I distinctly remember walking through the supermarket with my mother (I was around seven or eight at the time) and seeing a box of Pro Stars cereal.  The cereal had Wayne Gretzky on the box.  I'd never liked Gretzky, even as a child, and I never really watched hockey, but I remember my mother telling me how she didn't like Gretzky anymore.  She hadn't liked him since he left Edmonton for Los Angeles.  She started telling me about "this new guy" who she liked now.  My mom wasn't the greatest hockey expert, but I remember her telling me about Mario Lemieux .  Little did she know that conversation would change my life.

Like I said, I rarely followed hockey as a small child.  But all the kids at school were talking about this game.  And, once again, it was my mom that got me to watch it.  She told me "that Mario Lemieux guy" was playing for the Stanley Cup and she wanted to watch it.  I did too.

The first hockey game I ever watched in its entirety the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Minnesota North Stars 8-0 and won the Stanley Cup.

I was hooked.   I started collecting hockey cards and t-shirts and hats and jerseys.  I started waiting outside Maple Leaf Gardens when the Penguins played there, trying to get autographs.  I bought tickets from scalpers to see them play.  I went to golf tournaments and award shows to catch a glimpse of my new hero, Mario Lemieux .

And, in 2005, a year when the team was so far away from their glory days it was hard to remember them, my mom and I finally made the trip to Pittsburgh to watch the Penguins play at the Mellon Arena.  We finally saw Mario Lemieux skate at home.  And we also watched a young kid play in the first month of his NHL career.  A young kid named Sidney Crosby .  And when that kid led the Penguins back to the Stanley Cup finals in 2008, I remembered watching those games in the early 90s with my mother, hoping they would raise the Cup once again.  Unfortunately, it was not to be.

But I'm still hooked. And now my wife is too. The Penguins tradition has been passed on.

In many ways the story of this website and this blog is the story of my life.  The life of a resident of Toronto, Ontario, Canada who grew up not in the Leafs Nation but in the Igloo, who revered the names Lemieux, and Jagr, and Stevens, Crosby, Malkin and Staal the way Leafs fans talk about Sittler, Keon and Salming.

This is PenguinsExperience.com and I hope you enjoy it.

Email me

Subscribe to the Penguins Experience RSS Feed

Continue reading...